Turkey calls for boycott of China's goods over violence in Uighur region

Turkey calls for boycott of China's goods over violence in Uighur region

Turkey's Industry Minister urged Turks to boycott Chinese goods in protest at ethnic violence in East Turkistan.
Thursday, 09 July 2009 17:13
World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkey's Industry Minister urged Turks on Thursday to boycott Chinese goods in protest at ethnic violence in East Turkistan.Nihat Ergun's office said the minister asked Turks to boycott Chinese-made goods but that government had no plans for an official boycott.


Minister told a meeting of industrial exporters in the town of Yozgat, "Let's check to see whether the country whose products we are consuming respects humanity.''

Ergun said "Turks should put pressure on China to end violence by not buying Chinese goods".

The call comes after Chinese police arrested 1,434 Uighurs two days after killing 156 dead and wounding more than 1,000 since Uighurs started the protests in the capital Urumqi over the attacks of Han Chineses on Uighur workers in a dormitory of a toy factory in China's southern Guangdong province, killing two people and injuring 118.

"Hunting down"

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc also accused Chinese militia forces of hunting down Muslim Uighurs.

"Now both the Chinese army is occupying the streets and militia called the Han Chinese, armed with batons and lethal instruments, are hunting down for Uighurs,'' Arinc said.

"They are raiding homes, taking away children and women and there are a great number of deaths.''

"Unfortunately China, with its economic power, its influence and its power over world politics, is trying to cover up these incidents,'' Arinc said.

Arinc said he wanted China to investigate the events in a way "that will not damage relations between China and Turkey.'' He said Turkey was prepared to help in the investigation.

"Killings internal affair"

China also did not accept a call by Turkey to discuss deadly response to protests at the United Nations Security Council.

It describes killings "an internal affair."

Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said "this is completely China's internal affair, there is no reason to seek a Security Council discussion."

The refusal came after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Turkey would ask the U.N. Security Council to discuss ways of ending violence.

In televised remarks Wednesday, Erdogan said the events amounted to an "atrocity."

"We expect... the immediate implementation of the necessary measures in line with universal human rights," he said.

Turkey has a non-permanent seat at the Security Council. Uighurs are a Muslim Turkic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with central Asia.

Meanwhile, sixty Turkish lawmakers resigned from Turkish-Chinese Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group .

Several Turkish non-governmental organizations staged demonstrations across Turkey to protest the Chinese government. And a Turkish consumer organization has called for boycott of Chinese goods.

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