TURKISH PM ‘GENOCIDE’ COMMENT TRIGGERS CHINA TIES CONCERN
Daren Butler
Reuters
July 15 2009
UK
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s accusation of genocide in
describing the rioting which killed 184 people in China’s northwestern
Muslim region of Xinjiang should come as no surprise to those familiar
with his outspoken, populist style.
The incident recalls the furore that followed Erdogan’s haranguing of
Israel’s president over Israel’s Gaza offensive at the Davos forum
in January when he told Shimon Peres: "When it comes to killing you
know very well how to kill".
That outburst attracted strong approval among Turks and in the Arab
world, but was also seen as potentially damaging for predominantly
Muslim but secular Turkey’s role as a Middle East mediator.
His latest comments have drawn an indignant response in China, and
Turkish commentators are now voicing concerns that his undiplomatic
approach could harm the relations which Turkey is trying to develop
with the world’s third-biggest economy.
The timing was unfortunate. President Abdullah Gul last month became
the first Turkish president to visit China in 15 years, signing $1.5
billion worth of trade deals, according to Turkish media. He also
visited Xinjiang during his trip.
Veteran Turkish political commentator Sami Kohen said it was natural
for the Turkish people to show their sensitivity and anger over
developments concerning their Uighur ethnic kin.
"But state policy must be more cautious and moderate. Speeches and
reactions since the start of the Xinjiang crisis have created serious
doubts on whether a harmonious and consistent policy has been set out,"
Kohen said in Milliyet newspaper.
"It was seen with different incidents in the past that over-the-top
expressions have put Turkish diplomacy in a difficult position and
did not have any practical results," he said.
The genocide label is particularly sensitive in Turkey, which strongly
refutes Armenian claims that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks during World War One constituted genocide.
The English-language China Daily has urged Erdogan to take back
his remarks, describing them as interference in China’s internal
affairs. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the accusation did
not make sense.
On July 5, Uighurs attacked Han Chinese in the regional capital Urumqi
after police tried to break up a protest against fatal attacks on
Uighur workers at a factory in south China.
Han Chinese launched revenge attacks two days later in what was
Xinjiang’s worst ethnic violence in decades. The death toll included
46 Uighurs, a Turkic people who are largely Muslim and share linguistic
and cultural bonds with Central Asia.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told his Turkish counterpart by
telephone on Sunday the Urumqi riots were a grave crime orchestrated
by the "three evil forces", Xinhua news agency said, referring to
extremism, separatism and terrorism.
Commentator Cengiz Candar said the situation called for cool heads,
given China’s permanent membership of the United Nation’s Security
Council, which gives it veto powers in issues concerning Turkey such as
the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus, neighbouring Iraq and Iran.
"Now is the time to overcome the ‘tension’ which has emerged between
Turkey and China with a diplomacy which is cool, quiet and patient,"
Candar said in the liberal daily Radikal.
That diplomacy could face a fresh test in the near future after
Erdogan said last week Turkey would grant a visa to exiled Uighur
leader Rebiya Kadeer, who is based in the United States.
China has blamed the ethnic unrest on exiled Uighur separatists,
especially Kadeer, who denies the charge.