The deportation of the Uighur to China led to violent scenes in Turkey when pro-Uighur protesters attacked the Thai consulate in Istanbul with clubs and rocks.
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Thailand’s military government has drawn vehement global criticism for forcing the 109 refugees, known as Uighurs, back to China, arguing that they had only Chinese documentation. “If found innocent they will be released”, he told reporters.
The United States condemned the deportations and asked Thailand to stop them, saying the Uighurs could face harsh treatment in China, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
Scores are believed to have fled the restive area in recent years, sometimes travelling through Southeast Asia in hope of resettling in Turkey. “We will assess the situation on a daily basis”, he said, adding all was now under control with no Thai nationals affected, while citizens had been warned to remain on alert.
Thailand will send a team of observers to China next week to witness how the 109 Uighur returnees are being treated.
Seemingly unwilling to accept that the Uighurs might have fled China voluntarily, the ministry said a few appeared to have been coerced and many had been “bewitched” by propaganda from Uighur groups overseas.
Colonel Weerachon Suk-hondhapatipak, deputy Thai government spokesman, said that Bangkok, in line with “international agreementand worldwide law”, had to verify the nationality of all the Uighur migrants case by case before deciding their fate.
The nationalist newspaper Global Times said Friday in an article that cites unidentified Public Security Ministry officials that a country has been issuing passports and proof of citizenship to Uighurs and emboldening them to illegally leave China. He also urged China to ensure proper treatment of the Uighurs.
Erdogan, clearly keen to assuage Beijing’s concerns, suggested the protests might have been aimed at damaging his China trip, when he plans to raise the Uighurs’ plight. A few Turks have a strong sense of shared cultural and religious heritage with the mainly Muslim Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned The expulsion of the Uighurs to China, saying it violated worldwide humanitarian law.
The Istanbul protesters, using sticks and stones, smashed windows and broke into the consulate late on Wednesday, throwing folders and personal belongings on the floor, pictures and video footage published by local media showed. The street remained closed to traffic.
A Chinese restaurant, its owner Turkish and its cook ironically Uighur, was vandalised last week, while a group of Korean tourists was mistakenly attacked in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district, according to the Hurriyet newspaper.
“What feature differentiates a Korean from a Chinese? How can they tell the difference?”
Protesters waving the blue flag of the Uighur independence movement also marched on Thursday to the Thai Embassy in Ankara.
Sophie Richardson is the China director of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.
Rexiti, of the World Uyghur Congress, said about 60 Uighurs are still in the custody of the Thai government pending deportation.
The Uighur issue has strained relations between China and Turkey ahead of a planned visit to Beijing this month by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. “In China they can face serious abuses including torture and disappearance”.
“In effect China has simply hunted these people down, and Thailand has blithely robbed them of any protection they should have been afforded under worldwide law”, she said.
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Thailand has obligations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the worldwide Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Union statement said.
