Uyghur Muslims living in Turkey on Sunday called for a boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing.
In Istanbul, dozens of members of the Uyghur community, an ethnic minority in Central and East Asia, staged a protest against the Winter Olympics and called on countries to boycott the competition, according to Reuters. China has been heavily criticized by the international community for human rights abuses and alleged genocide committed against Uyghurs living in its western region of Xinjiang.
At the event, demonstrators waved the blue and white flag of the East Turkestan independence movement, a group China has called a threat to its Xinjiang province. They used chants such as “China, stop the genocide” and “China, close the camps”, the latter referring to the camps that were allegedly used to forcibly “re-educate” members of Xinjiang’s Uyghur communities.
AFP via Getty Images/Bulent Kilic
“China has no right to host the Olympics while committing all the torture, cruelty and genocide against the Uighurs,” housewife and protester Munevver Ozuygur said, according to Reuters. She said relatives were being held in camps in China.
Some 50,000 Uyghurs are estimated to live in Turkey. It is the group’s largest diaspora community outside of Central Asia. Turks also share various “ethnic, religious and linguistic” traits with Uyghurs, as noted by Al Jazeera.
The Winter Olympics are due to begin on February 4. So far, the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Denmark and Japan have chosen not to send diplomatic delegates to protest China’s human rights record. ‘man. The United States has also imposed a number of sanctions on various Chinese companies and politicians for the alleged treatment of Uyghurs.
United Nations experts and human rights groups say more than a million Uyghurs have been forcibly detained in camps in Xinjiang. Initially denying the existence of the camps, China now claims they are used for job training and to reduce the appeal of “extremism”.
Also on Sunday, Rushan Abbas, an American Uyghur activist and executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs, a human rights group, wrote an op-ed for The Hill.
She described the diplomatic boycott of the Olympics as “a bare minimum, symbolic rather than substantial”. She called on the United States and other countries not to attend the games at all, and potential viewers around the world not to tune in to the event.
“When future generations look back on our world today, will they learn that America acted with moral clarity?” Abbas wrote. Our nation often repeats the rallying cry “Never again!” However, it happens again. We have a chance to correct history in the making. What will we decide?”
