The Uighurs, previously held in Thai immigration detention centres for illegally entering the country, have been at the centre of a tug of war between China and Turkey who both claim to be their country of origin. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Thursday mooted the possibility of closing the embassy if the situation worsened.
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Government spokesman Maj. Gen. Verachon Sukhonthapatipak said that Thailand had assurances from Chinese authorities that “their safety is guaranteed”.
“We found that about 170 of them were Turkish, so they were recently sent to Turkey”, he said.
Thailand sent more than 100 ethnic Uygurs back to China on Thursday, ignoring calls from the worldwide community to protect the group and ensure they were not forced back to face possible persecution by the Chinese government. “And about 100 were Chinese, so they were sent to China as of this morning, under the agreement that their safety is guaranteed according to humanitarian principles”. Thailand has worked with China and Turkey to solve the Uighur Muslim problem. “We have sent them back to China after verifying their nationality”, Colonel Weerachon Sukhondhapatipak, deputy government spokesman, told reporters today. Fifty others still need to have their citizenship verified.
“It is very shocking and disturbing that Thailand caved in to pressure from Beijing”, Human Rights Watch Thailand researcher Sunai Phasuk said.
The World Uygur Congress, a German-based advocacy group, said that those repatriated could face criminal charges and harsh punishment, possibly execution, under China’s opaque legal system – the reasons they fled China in the first place.
“By forcibly sending back at least 90 Uighurs, Thailand has violated worldwide law”. Protests broke out across Turkey, and on one occasion a group of nationalists in Istanbul tried to attack a group of Korean tourists, mistaking them for Chinese nationals.
Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, would not confirm whether the Uighurs had been deported to China but spoke in general terms about the issue at a daily news briefing on Thursday, saying the Uighurs were “firstly Chinese”. Many Turks see themselves as sharing a common cultural and religious heritage with their Uighur “brothers” and Turkey is home to a large Uighur diaspora.
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Turkey’s ties with China had already been strained over unconfirmed reports in Turkey that Uighurs were being mistreated and prevented from worship and fasting during the Muslim month of Ramadan.
