China has lashed out at Turkey for offering shelter to roughly 200 Uighurs from the western Chinese region of Xinjiang who were rescued from a human-smuggling camp in Thailand.
Thai police found the group in March and Chinese officials identified “dozens” of them as Uighurs, a Muslim people from Xinjiang who speak a Turkic language. Many Uighurs chafe at government curbs on their culture and religion.
Small numbers of Uighurs trickling out of China to Southeast Asia are believed to go overland into Laos or Myanmar, before going to Thailand and elsewhere.
Turkey is home to thousands of Uighurs who have fled Xinjiang since the Chinese Communists took over the region in 1949. It has projected itself as a stable Muslim democracy, a key player at a time of turmoil and unrest in the Middle East.
In the past two years, hundreds of people have been killed in unrest in Xinjiang, prompting a crackdown by authorities.
Source here :
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/china-slams-turkey-for-offer-to-shelter-uighurs.aspx?pageID=238&nID=74978&NewsCatID=359
