Uighur debate shows shifting influence in Turkish policies
Differences of opinion within the Turkish security bureaucracy on how to react to China’s treatment of Uighur Turks reveal competing camps.
Turkey’s security officials are divided over how to handle China’s ongoing repressive policies against the Uighurs, a Turkic minority living mainly in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
Pro-Russian circles believe Turkey shouldn’t take any approach that might hurt Ankara-Beijing ties, while conservative circles defend a "moral" approach to support a fellow Muslim community.
In a Sept. 14 column, I had questioned Ankara's passivity toward China's tactics against ethnic Uighurs: “One wonders the reason for the silence at a time when nationalist sentiments in Turkey are gaining momentum."
While Chinese investments in Turkey are increasing, Turkey’s meager reaction to the Uighurs' treatment has amounted to no more than a few tactfully worded Foreign Ministry statements.
