BEIJING (AP) – Abdullah Metseydi, a Uighur from Turkey, was preparing for bed last month when he heard agitation, then knocking on the door. “Police! Open the door!”
A dozen or more officers entered, many carrying weapons and wearing the camouflage of Turkey’s anti-terrorist force. They asked if Metseydi had taken part in any movement against China and threatened to deport him and his wife. They took him to a deportation unit, where he is now at the center of an ongoing political controversy.
Turkish opposition lawmakers accuse Ankara’s leaders of secretly selling Uighurs to China in exchange for coronavirus vaccines. Tens of millions of vials of promised Chinese vaccines have not yet been delivered. Meanwhile, in recent months, Turkish police have raided and detained about 50 Uighurs in deportation centers, lawyers say – a sharp rise from last year.
Although no clear evidence has yet emerged for a quid pro quo, these lawmakers and Uighurs fear that Beijing will use vaccines as leverage to win the adoption of an extradition treaty. The treaty was signed years ago, but was abruptly ratified by China in December and could be presented to Turkish parliamentarians later this month.
Uyghurs say the bill, once enacted as a law, could bring them a life-threatening nightmare: deportation back to a country where they fled to avoid mass detention. More than a million Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities have been swept away in Chinese prisons and detention camps in what China calls an anti-terrorism measure, but the United States has declared genocide.
“I am horrified to be deported,” said Melsey, Metseydi’s wife, through tears, refusing to give her family name for fear of being convicted. “I’m worried about my husband’s mental health.”
Suspicions of a deal arose when the first shipment of Chinese vaccines was held for weeks in December. Officials blamed the authorization issues.
But even now, Yildirim Kaya, a lawmaker from Turkey’s main opposition party, said China had given only a third of the 30 million doses it had promised by the end of January. Turkey relies heavily on China’s Sinovac vaccine to immunize its population against the virus, which has infected about 2.5 million and killed more than 26,000.
“Such a delay is not normal. I paid for these vaccines, “said Kaya. “Is China blackmailing Turkey?”
Kaya said he had officially asked the Turkish government about pressure from China, but had not yet received an answer.
Both the Turkish and Chinese authorities insist that the draft law on extradition is not intended to target Uyghurs for deportation. Chinese state media called such concerns “dirty,” and Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin denied any connection between the vaccines and the treaty.
“I think your speculation is unfounded,” Wang told a news briefing Thursday.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in December that the delay in the vaccine was not linked to the Uyghur problem.
“We do not use Uighurs for political purposes, we defend their human rights,” Cavusoglu said.
But while very few have actually been deported so far, recent detentions have sent a chill into the estimated 50,000 Uighur community in Turkey. In recent weeks, the Turkish ambassador to Beijing has praised China’s vaccines, adding that Ankara appreciates “judicial cooperation” with China. – code, many Uighurs are afraid, for a possible repression.
In the past, a small number of Uighurs have traveled to Syria to train with militants. But most Uighurs in Turkey avoid jihad and worry that it will affect the Uighur cause.
Lawyers representing detained Uighurs say that in most cases, Turkish police have no evidence of links to terrorist groups. Ankara law professor Ilyas Dogan believes the detentions are politically motivated.
“They have no concrete evidence,” said Dogan, who now represents six Uighurs in deportation centers, including Metseydi. “They are not serious.”
Even if the bill is ratified, Dogan doubts that there will be mass deportations, given the widespread public sympathy for Uighurs in Turkey. But he believes the chances of people being deported would increase significantly.
Due to common cultural ties, Turkey has long been a safe haven for Uyghurs, a Turkish group from the western Chinese Xinjiang region. Turkish President Recep Erdogan has denounced China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as “genocide” more than a decade ago.
All this changed with an attempted coup in Turkey in 2016, which led to a mass purge and alienated Erdogan from Western governments. China has waited to fill the gap, which borrows and invests billions in Turkey.
Signs of strong economic ties abound, large and small: an exporter with business in China has been appointed Turkish ambassador to Beijing. A $ 1.7 billion Chinese-funded coal plant is being built on the shores of Turkey’s Mediterranean Sea. Istanbul Airport obtains the world’s first “Chinese Friendly Airport” certification, setting aside check-in counters to receive thousands of tourists from Shanghai and Beijing. And President Erdogan’s rhetoric, once ignited, has become dull and diplomatic, praising China’s leaders for assistance.
China has also begun demanding the extradition of many Uighurs from Turkey. In an extradition request from 2016, first reported by Axios and obtained independently by The Associated Press, Chinese officials have demanded the extradition of a former Uyghur phone salesman, accusing him of promoting the Islamic State terrorist group online. The seller was arrested, but eventually released and acquitted.
Abdurehim Parac, a Uighur poet detained twice in recent years, said that even detention in Turkey is “hotel-type” compared to the “infernal” conditions he was subjected to for three years in a Chinese prison. Imim was eventually released after a judge deleted his name. But he has difficulty sleeping through the night for fear that the extradition bill could be ratified and called the pressure “unbearable.”
“Death is waiting for me in China,” he said.
Growing fears are already causing an influx of Uighurs to move to Germany, the Netherlands and other European countries. Some are so desperate that they even sneak across borders illegally, said Ali Kutad, who fled China to Turkey in 2016.
“Turkey is our second homeland,” Kutad said. “We’re really scared.”
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Mehmet Guzel from Istanbul contributed to this report. Fraser reported from Ankara.