China 'displeased' about Turkey accepting Uighurs fleeing persecution

Beijing has expressed displeasure with Turkey for accepting 174 members of the Uighur ethnic minority who fled China due to persecution.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Friday that Beijing opposes "any actions that aid and abet, or even support illegal migration."

The Uighur group, mostly women and children, arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday and are being settled in the central city of Kayseri.

Turkey has ethnic and linguistic ties to the Uighurs, members of a Muslim ethnic minority in China's far west East Turkistan (Xinjiang) region.

The 174 people were among about 250 Uighurs who were held in Thai camps after fleeing China.

In Turkey, restrictions on the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region drew protests on social media with thousands of people posting condemnations.

On Wednesday evening protests broke out all across Turkey with demonstrators gathering in the streets to denounce the oppression of Uighurs in East Turkistan.

Amid mounting anger against China, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday that said reports about the ban of fasting and observing other religious duties on Uighurs in Xinjiang "caused sadness among the Turkish people." The ministry said "deep concerns" about the reports were conveyed to the Chinese ambassador in Ankara, underlining that Turkey respected China's "territorial integrity." In response to the ministry's statement, Hua Chunying, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, said on Wednesday that all ethnic groups in China had freedom of religious belief.

The Uighur diaspora accuses China of a continuous campaign to restrain the religious and cultural activities of the Uighur community, which makes up almost half of the population in Xinjiang. Seyit Tümtürk, vice president of World Uyghur Congress, told Anadolu Agency earlier this week that China has been carrying out a systematic assimilation policy for decades and prevented Uighurs from practicing their faith and culture.