China is widely accused by human rights organizations of oppressing Uyghurs, one of the country’s largest predominantly Muslim minorities. Those including Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have accused Beijing of incarcerating tens of thousands of Uyghurs in “camps” in Xinjiang and resorting to other means in blatant violation of international laws in a bid to strip off the minority from its Muslim identity.

In September 2022, the UN released a report on alleged violations of the human rights of ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China. The report found that mass detentions in China’s Xinjiang region from 2017 to 2019 were marked by credible documentation of torture, sexual violence, and forced labour, as well as forced abortions and sterilisations. The 48-page report concluded that “serious human rights violations” were committed by the Chinese government against the Uyghurs and other Muslims under China’s policies to fight terrorism and extremism.

Taking a cue from the above report, Turkey publicly criticized China for the first time over Beijing’s treatment of its Uyghur minority. It is worth noting that Turkey has been one of the most hospitable countries to Uyghurs, with whom Turks share ethnic, religious and linguistic connections. Roughly 50,000 Uyghurs live in Turkey, forming the largest Uyghur Diaspora outside Central Asia.

At a press briefing on December 29, 2022 Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu stated, “Our defending the rights of the Turkic Uyghurs in the international arena disturbs China. But this is a humanitarian issue”. He told reporters that Beijing was irked by Ankara’s refusal to grant extradition requests for Uyghurs who were Turkish citizens and settled down in Turkey.

The Foreign Minister further emphasizedthat Turkey wanted to cooperate with China in a transparent manner but Chinese authorities did not allow the Ambassador in Beijing to freely visit the region where Uyghurs reside instead they wanted him to follow a “programme that they provided”. He reminded Beijing about the commitment made by Chinese President Xi Jinping five years ago of allowing a humanitarian delegation from Turkeyto visit and examine Xinjiang region and questioned Chinese authorities for impeding the visit.

Though Turkey’s public criticism of China is a rare happening, there have been instances in the past where Ankara has taken on Beijing for ill-treatment of Uyghurs. In 2019, Turkey had brought up the minority’s plight at the United Nations, condemning Beijing of “torturing” more than a million people. The condemnation had prompted the Chinese Ambassador in Ankara to openly warn the Turkish government against publicly criticizing Beijing by saying that it could have commercial and economic consequences. Beijing followed the warning by suddenly announcing temporary closure of its consulate in Turkey’s Aegean province of Izmir, which is planned to be the last port in China’s multibillion-dollar infrastructure project One Belt, One Road initiative, linking Asia and Europe.

In another spat, in 2021, the Chinese Embassy in Ankara directly targeted Turkish opposition leaders for commemorating the deaths of the Uyghurs. At that time the Chinese embassy had said, “The Chinese side reserves its legitimate right to respond” prompting the Turkish foreign minister to summon the Chinese ambassador.

Besides the confrontation on Uyghur issue, tensions have also cropped upin economic cooperation field. Recently, Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, threatened its Turkish partner telecom operator Turkcell over a defence tender. Huawei allegedly warned Turkcell with freezing its contracted operations when the latter refused to bow to pull down the bid in the defense tender, citing cost effectiveness concerns, according to a report by France-based Intelligence Online website. The company’s aggressive competitiveness “damaged its good relations” in Turkey, the report noted.

Despite this tension, trade and infrastructure investments have not been affected between Turkey and China. According to figures by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the trade volume between the two countries reached nearly $40 billion in 2021. It will be interesting to watch whether Ankara will stand firm against Beijing over Uyghur issue or succumb to Beijing’s pressure in the wake of economic problems that the country is currently facing.

L'articolo Ankara’s support for Uyghurs irks Beijing proviene da InsideOver.

After weeks of daily bombardment by mainly Uighur and Uzbek-led terrorists of civilian areas in Aleppo, the Syrian army, aided by Russian and Syrian jets have retaliated with extensive raids targeting terrorists fortifications, ammunition depots and supply lines in both Aleppo and Idlib rural areas. The air raids were in preparation for the land offensive which started yesterday against heavily fortified bases and rocket launch areas primarily run by Uzbek and Uighur terrorists who constitute an essential striking arm of the anti-government military campaign in the northwestern part of the country.

Military sources close to the elite Tiger forces (recently renamed the Anti-terrorist 25^th Division) of the Syrian army, led by Brigadier Soheil al Hassan, pointed out that among the prime goals of the ongoing land operation in the province, is securing two mainland commuter and transportation arteries, namely the M4 and M5 highways under provisions of the Sochi agreement reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in September 2018.

The first highway, the M4, in question is the main land route between Aleppo and the capital Damascus, out of action for over five years due to rebel control of large section of the highway until last year. The second highway. The M5 links Aleppo to the strategic coastal city of Latakia on the Mediterranean. Both routes pass through several cities and towns that have been liberated by the Syrian army after fierce and costly military confrontations between the army and rebel groups, some are main proxy militias supported by Turkey and or some Arab Gulf states, mainly Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Two highways that could decide much more than transport

The Sochi agreement, rejected by al Nusra terror group and its affiliate splinter factions, provides for joint Russian-Turkish patrols and posts along chunks of the two highways. However, non-conforming militias have been systematically breaching the truces and consecutive ceasefire deals, launching a rocket and mortar attacks as well as suicide bombings against both military and civilian targets in Aleppo and rural Idlib, Hama, Homs and the Latakia mountain range along the Turkish borders.

Control of the two highways shall be a major achievement for the Syrian government. In addition to being key for the revival of strong internal and external trade and land transportation of goods and passengers, especially after the reopening of the main al Boukamal/al Qa’im border crossing between Iraq and Syria last September, Retaking the two highways is pivotal in imposing a strangling siege over terror groups in provincial Idlib and its fortified strongholds both above and underground. Retaking the two main roads will enable the Syrian government to connect the newly reopened border crossing with Iraq – long closed by ISIS terrorists who controlled the area for years, and later by US troops and their Kurdish SDF allies, with Syria’s major Mediterranean ports of Tartous and Latakia

The Turkish military intervention in the area last October, code-named ‘Peace Spring’, has shifted the balance of force in the north against Kurds in the region and changed the running order of Kurdish priority list in light of the threat of an overwhelming Turkish military might which threatened to uproot armed Kurdish militias, and dismantle the very backbone of Kurdish dream of autonomy or independent entity someday, the US-backed SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) and their main component, the YPG militia, branded a ‘terrorist’ organization by Ankara which insists the group is the Syrian arm of the outlawed PKK that has been fighting Ankara for decades, inside Turkey itself as well as in northern Iraq and Syria.

Syrian army’s top guns run Aleppo/Idlib offensives

Syrian army’s elite 4^th Division, led by General Maher al Assad, brother of Syria’s president, is leading the current offensive to purge Aleppo’s western countryside and stifle terror rocket and mortar attacks on civilians in the city that was liberated some three years ago. Approximately 70% of Aleppo was totally or partially destroyed in the conflict before the Syrian army and its allies managed to liberate the strategic city in December 2016. The operation in Aleppo’s western countryside is taking place parallel with the ongoing offensive by Tiger forces in Idlib, where massive achievements have been made over the past few months. The area is fraught with TIP Uyghur, Uzbek, Kazak and Chechen hardcore fighters.

The last truce which announced by Turkish and Russian leaders last week regarding the ‘De-escalation Zone’ in Idlib, was followed by three humanitarian corridors opened by the Syrian army in al Hader, al Habeet and Abu Duhoor to enable civilians willing to leave rebel-controlled areas before a major military offensive takes place. Hundreds of families have managed to do so, despite threats and shelling by al Nusra and other terror groups to intimidate and prevent civilians they have been using as a ‘human shield’ from crossing into government-controlled areas. Civilians continue to trickle through these corridors, but hundreds of thousands remain trapped, against their will, and forced to stay as a’ human shield’ ahead of a now-certain major military operation to liberate Idlib, Syria’s last major battle against Islamist fanatic extremism and international terrorism.

L'articolo Syrian Army Advances on Uighur and Uzbek Strongholds proviene da InsideOver.

Last week, dozens of world leaders, intellectuals and scholars around the world attended the Kuala Lumpur Summit (KLS) to discuss issues facing the Muslim world (ummah) ranging from Islamophobia, poverty and sanctions to persecution in China and India.

Instead Of Bringing Muslims Nations Together The Summit Highlighted Their Rifts

Despite its lofty objectives, the summit ended up exposing a major rift between Muslim countries. The attendance of one bloc⁠—Qatar, Iran, Turkey⁠—and absence of the other⁠—UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Bahrain⁠—followed by the trading of barbs between the leaders of both sides took center stage and took attention away from the objective of the meeting.

KLS was first conceived by Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, Pakistan’s leader Imran Khan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly meeting this year. The plan was to broadcast and examine challenges faced by Muslims across the world, especially their persecution at the hands of India and China in Kashmir and Xinjiang, respectively. 

Why The Split Occurred

PM Mohammad’s invitation to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani irked Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Saudis and Emiratis have shunned Iran and Qatar in recent years and refuse to share any stage with them. 

Saudi Arabia and Iran have long competed for influence in the Muslim world. Both have been⁠—and are currently⁠—engaged in proxy wars across the Middle East. Moreover, the Saudis consider themselves de-facto leaders of the Islamic world given the importance of Mecca and Medina in Islam. To them, participating in any Islamic forum that they did not lead was unacceptable. 

Pakistan: Stuck In The Middle

Caught in the middle of this tug-of-war between the two power blocs was Pakistan’s Imran Khan, who hastily agreed to the summit without anticipating the repercussions given Islamabad’s close ties with Riyadh. Khan decided to pull out of it at the last moment after meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. 

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister said the decision was made in order to allay concerns raised by Saudi Arabia that the meeting could create a parallel bloc to rival the existing Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The OIC is headquartered at Riyadh and is led by Saudi Arabia. The Saudis saw the KL Summit as an attempt to dislodge their dominance over the Islamic world.

Erdogan: Saudi Arabia ‘Blackmailed’ Pakistan Over The Summit

Malaysia’s Mohammad, however, denies that the summit is intended to rival the OIC. In a statement, he said “the KL Summit is not intended to create a new bloc as alluded to by some of its critics.” Mohammad said that he had clarified his position to Crown Prince bin Salman in a telephone call. But while Mohammad was careful in his response to those criticizing the summit, Turkey’s Erdogan was not. 

Lambasting the Saudi Crown Prince, Erdogan alleged that Saudi Arabia had “blackmailed” and “threatened” Pakistan. “Unfortunately, we see that Saudi Arabia pressures Pakistan. Now, there are promises that the country has given to Pakistan regarding the central bank. However, more than that, there are four million Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia. They (threatened by saying that they) would send (Pakistanis) back and re-employ Bangladeshi people instead,” Erdogan said. Meanwhile, Erdogan also added that Indonesia⁠—which also decided to pull out after first agreeing to attend the meeting⁠—had also suffered from being similarly threatened by the Saudis.

Saudi Denies Erdogan’s Charges

Saudi Arabia has denied putting any pressure on Islamabad. A release issued by the Saudi embassy in Pakistan stated that, “the relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Islamic Republic of Pakistan are superior to the language of threat … and the two countries enjoy a consensus of views on most regional and international issues, especially the issues of the Islamic nation.” 

But even as Saudi Arabia denied applying any pressure on Islamabad, the infighting ended up overshadowing the summit. The world’s Muslim population⁠—around 1.8 billion across the world⁠—who had pinned their hopes on the summit to raise a voice for their rights watched with dismay as their leaders failed to agree on any way forward for their future.

L'articolo Kuala Lumpur Summit Exposes Underlying Cracks Within Muslim Nations proviene da InsideOver.

China enjoys friendly relations with many Islamic countries, but fails to think twice before persecuting its Muslim populace on the plea of indoctrination. Yet, China is the best friend of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the Muslim World. According to the leaked files obtained by The New York Times, as many as one million Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other predominantly Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region are facing severe conditions in the detention camps. But, the ruling Communist Party denies international criticism of the fields and describes them as job training centres that use mild methods to weed out Islamic extremism. Inmates undergo months or years of training and interrogation intended to pressurize them into disavowing devotion to Islam and professing gratitude for the party.

Xinjiang, a resource-rich territory, is one of the largest provinces of China. Xinjiang borders Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Tibet. Muslim ethnic minority groups constitute more than half of the region’s population of 25 million. Uighurs, the largest of these groups, have long been facing discrimination and restrictions on cultural and religious activities.

The origin of the detention camps can be traced back to a surge in anti-Chinese violence, including ethnic riots in 2009 in Urumqi and the May 2014 attack on an outdoor market. The attack killed 39 people just days before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s conference in Beijing to set a new policy course for Xinjiang. Against this backdrop of bloodshed, Xi delivered a series of secret speeches justifying the hard-line course that culminated in detentions in Xinjiang. The hard-line approach is driven by the party’s fear that devotion to the Muslim faith could lead to religious extremism and open defiance of its rule. Xi warned that the violence is spreading from Xinjiang into other parts of China and could taint the party’s image of strength.

The crackdown that began with the Uighurs in Xinjiang is now spreading to other regions. The party is now imposing new limitations on Islamic customs and practices across China. Authorities have closed mosques in the southern province of Yunnan and destroyed domes and minarets on mosques in Henan, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia, the homeland of China’s most significant Muslim ethnic minority, the Hui, as well as in Linxia, a city known as “Little Mecca.” The public use of the Arabic script has been banned.

Why are the Islamic countries silent on China’s ethnic cleansing?

Strangely the Islamic countries, including the OIC and other international Muslim forums, are quiet on this ethnic cleansing in Xinxiang province of China. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has feigned ignorance about the persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad termed China as a significant trading partner in September 2019 and added that they cannot do something that will cause suffering to them. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also approved Beijing’s right to undertake “anti-terrorism” and “de-extremism” measures while talking to the state-owned CCTV.

To check the concerns in the Muslim world, China has used its economic clout via its global Belt and Road infrastructure program, loans, concessions and even defended some of these Muslim rogue states on international forums to buy their consent for the ethnic cleansing of Uighur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang. Therefore, Muslim countries have maintained a deafening silence. They have all turned a blind eye to the atrocities on the Uighur Muslims.

According to political observers, many Muslim countries are concerned about this, but they are afraid to speak and jeopardize investments worth billions of dollars from China.

Muslim countries are significant beneficiaries of China’s $200 billion Belt and Road infrastructure program. China is negotiating a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council, and Saudi Arabia is the most prominent member. The strategy is working well for China. The silence of these Muslim countries against the Uighur repression is alarming and shows how much they are dependent on Beijing for goodwill and support.

L'articolo Will the Muslim World Condemn China’s Persecution of Uighur Muslims? proviene da InsideOver.

Chinese Muslim women have spoken out about the abuse they endured in China’s “concentration camps”. Their stories speak of a repugnant world of rape, forced abortions and sterilisations, and being made to rub chillis into their private parts. These fresh allegations come after international criticism over the communist country’s persecution of its Muslim minority, which includes Uighurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other ethnic groups.

Forced Abortions And Sexual Assault

Gulzira Mogdyn, a 38-year-old Kazakh and Chinese citizen, told the Washington Post how she was detained in Xinjiang in 2017 after a visit to Kazakhstan because WhatsApp was found on her phone. After being placed under house arrest, she was examined by doctors at a nearby clinic, who discovered that she was 10 weeks pregnant. Reprimanded, she was told that she was not permitted to have the child – which would have been her fourth. Mogdyn said that a month later, doctors “cut my foetus out” without the use of any anaesthesia. Today, she still suffers from complications from the botched procedure.

“Two humans were lost in this tragedy – my baby and me,” Mogdyn said during an interview on the outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan where she now resides. She is also pressing the Chinese authorities for a response – either in the way of financial compensation or, at the very least, an apology.

Another woman, Ruqiye Perhat, who was detained for almost four years, said that she was repeatedly raped by Han Chinese guards, resulting in two pregnancies, which she was forced to abort. “Any woman or man under age 35 was raped and sexually abused,” she disclosed.

Other former female detainees spoke about how guards would “come in and put bags on the heads of the ones they wanted” at night — only for the women to be returned the next morning or not at all — after being raped. Many also revealed how they were made to shower in groups and forced to rub chillis into their genitals, which “burned like fire.”

An open letter surfaced in May 2019 by a man claiming to be a prison guard at a concentration camp in Dawanching, corroborating some of the women’s allegations.

He wrote, “Sometimes officers would visit our monitoring room to “inspect” our work. In fact, they are choosing “girls”. They would ask us to zoom the camera in on girls’ faces, and even would half-jokingly ask me to choose the most beautiful one for him, which I euphemistically rejected at the time. After selecting the girl, they would let the subordinate staff to bring the girl to the “office” for a “talk”. The “office” is actually the employee’s kitchen. Because there is no camera there, and the “talk” generally is during the daytime, not at night, everyone knows what will happen to the girls. There are two tables in the kitchen, one table is for snacks and liquors, and the other one is for “doing things”. Most of the time, the officer would rape the selected girl alone. Sometimes, if he is high, he would let subordinates gang rape the girls after him. After they are done, the girl would be returned back to the cell. The girl wouldn’t say anything, but I could see her tears from the camera. In the cells, they are not allowed to cry, not allowed to express their emotions, and not allowed to talk.”

More Prisoners Being Detained

Last week, a drone video surfaced which showed hundreds of men with shaved heads, blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs. Wearing purple vests with the words “Kashgar Detention Center” printed on them, they were ominously led from a train station by police officers.

In a statement to CNN, officials in Xinjiang said that “cracking down on crimes in accordance with law is the common practice of all countries.”

“Xinjiang’s crackdown on crimes has never been linked to ethnicities or religions,” the statement added. “Transporting inmates by judicial authorities (is related) to normal judicial activities.”

Yet, Human Rights Watch told the Daily Mail, “While HRW hasn’t yet corroborated this footage, it raises the spectre of many of the same kinds of gross human rights violations against Uighurs we have documented – especially mass arbitrary detention and lack of access to family or counsel.

“It underscores the urgent need for an independent investigation; Chinese authorities lost all credibility on this issue months ago by denying these abuses even exist.”

Ethnic Cleansing

About two per cent of the 1.4 billion population in China comprises of Muslims. The Chinese Muslim population was expected to grow from 23.3 million in 2010 to almost 30 million by 2030.

In recent years, China has been accused of undertaking an ethnic cleansing operation in the Xinjiang region, with the UN saying that over a million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities are being detained in detention camps and subjected to cruel human rights violations. Authorities in China deny such allegations and claim that those individuals are attending “vocational training centres” to promote job opportunities and combat terrorism.

This week, the US has announced that it will impose visa restrictions on any Chinese officials with suspected involvement in the systematic oppression of Muslims. The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, denounced the Chinese authorities for having introduced “a highly repressive campaign”.

L'articolo China Accused Of Genocide Over Forced Abortions of Muslim Women proviene da InsideOver.