Turkish minister visits Xinjiang, long a sore point between Beijing and Ankara (2024)

China’s Xinjiang region and Turkey have agreed to strengthen counterterrorism cooperation during Ankara’s first visit to the Uygur autonomous region in 12 years.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited Urumqi, capital of the region, where he met Xinjiang’s regional party chief Ma Xingrui and the regional government chairman, Erkin Tuniyaz, on Wednesday.

Ma told Fidan terrorism had brought “great harm” to social stability and safety in Xinjiang, according to the official Xinjiang Daily.

“We are willing to deepen cooperation with the Turkish side to jointly combat separatism, terrorism and extremism,” Ma was quoted as saying, along with a call to expand subnational exchanges with Turkey’s regions.

Fidan echoed the view that Turkey and China should work together to strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation and pursue new progress in trade, agriculture and civil aviation, according to the Chinese statement.

He said he had observed well-developed urban facilities, social prosperity and a good protection of various ethnic cultures and languages during his visit to Xinjiang, adding that Ankara did not support or take part in anti-China activities using ethnic issues, Xinjiang Daily said.

The Turkish foreign minister also said Turkey did not allow activities within its borders that endangered China’s security and territorial integrity, according to the outlet.

Turkey has long been a refuge for Uygurs fleeing Xinjiang.

Ankara’s refusal to extradite a key figure of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group accused by China of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, drew Beijing’s ire three years ago.

In an interview with the Chinese state-broadcaster CCTV, Fidan said it was important to change global perceptions of the cultural rights and lives of Uygurs.

“[It] is beneficial for China, for us and for everyone,” he said in the video interview published on Wednesday.

Fidan said he advocated considering the Uygur issue in China a cultural matter.

On Wednesday, during his stop in Kashgar – which is seen as the “cradle of Uygur culture” – Fidan visited the Mausoleum of Yusuf Khass Hajib, a famous 11th century Turkic poet, and the Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in Xinjiang, the Turkish foreign ministry tweeted on X.

Fidan’s visit, part of a three-day trip to China ending on Wednesday, was the first high-level Turkish visit to Xinjiang since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited as prime minister in April 2012.

Fidan’s visit was expected to be mainly aimed at luring businesses in Xinjiang to invest in Turkey according to Li Lifan, a research fellow from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

“Turkey may be more interested in taking advantage of its own geopolitical advantages to attract Chinese investment, which is now needed by various major countries in the world, such as for the photovoltaic sector and electric vehicles,” he said.

Li said that as a candidate for membership of the European Union, Turkey’s implementation of EU standards would be attractive to Chinese companies, while cultural and linguistic similarities could also appeal to Uygur entrepreneurs.

He also mentioned that Turkey was a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation dialogue partner and sought to become a member of the organisation.

“I think [Turkey’s] interactions with China will likely become more frequent in the future,” said Li, who is also head of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’s SCO Centre.

Addressing a joint press conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Tuesday, Fidan said Urumqi and Kashgar play “a bridging role” between China and the Turkish world as well as the Islamic world.

“They are symbols of our historical friendship and neighbourhood,” he added, according to the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency.

Xinjiang – home to nearly 12 million Uygurs – has long been a sore point in relations between China and Turkey.

Ankara has been one of the most vocal critics of China’s alleged human rights abuses against the Turkic-speaking and mainly Muslim ethnic group.

In February, Turkish authorities were reported to have detained six people in Istanbul suspected of spying on Uygurs in Turkey for China’s intelligence service.

During a phone call three years ago, Erdogan told Chinese President Xi Jinping it was important to treat Uygurs as “equal citizens” of China.

Back in 2009, Erdogan, whose support base includes many traditionalist Muslim voters, described violent ethnic clashes in Urumqi as “a kind of genocide”.

In 2019, Beijing shut down its consulate in Izmir, Turkey’s third biggest city after repeated criticism of Beijing’s treatment of Uygurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang.

Many in Turkey view Uygurs as part of a common family because of their shared religious, cultural and linguistic affinities and common Turkic roots.

The country hosts the largest Uygur diaspora community outside Central Asia, estimated at around 50,000.

But Beijing has pushed back against the efforts of some Turkish politicians to play up their ethnic affinity with the Uygurs. In a white paper issued in 2019, it said “the Uygurs are not descendants of the Turks”.

The two countries have strengthened economic ties in recent years, raising questions about whether Turkey now wants to downplay the issue.

Meanwhile, Beijing has been seeking support for its policies in Xinjiang from Turkey.

In the joint press conference on Tuesday, Wang said “the two sides agreed to … oppose interference by external forces in the internal affairs of the two countries under the guise of democracy and human rights”.

China has defended its actions in Xinjiang, saying its policies were designed to counter terrorism and religious extremism. It has also organised several visits by foreign diplomats and politicians to Xinjiang in recent years in a bid to counter overseas criticism.

Two months ago the region hosted a delegation from Arab states, headed by Bassam Zakarneh, a member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council of Palestine, that also included politicians from Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Jordan and Tunisia.

In 2022, China said it would welcome a Turkish delegation to Xinjiang and that the country “has always taken an attitude of being open and transparent on issues related to Xinjiang”.

Fidan’s visit showed that through dialogue and communication, China and Turkey could clear up misunderstandings and were likely to avoid further mistakes.

“[The trip] also shows that Turkey’s foreign policy is relatively more mature and stable than before,’ he said.