Thailand sends about 100 ethnic Uighurs back to China

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Protesters stormed the Thai Consulate in Istanbul early Thursday to denounce Thailand’s decision to deport 109 ethnic Uighur migrants back to China, destroying furniture and hurling files and documents out into the yard, according to reports and video footage.

China’s treatment of its Turkic language-speaking Uighur minority is a sensitive issue in Turkey and has strained bilateral ties ahead of a planned visit to Beijing this month by President Tayyip Erdogan. They have travelled clandestinely through Southeast Asia to Turkey. Thailand has worked with China and Turkey to solve the Uighur Muslim problem.

On Thursday, Thai government spokesman Werachon Sukhondapatipak told reporters that “some 100” Uighurs were deported to China on Wednesday after finding “clear evidence they are Chinese nationals”.

On Saturday, Turkish nationalists attacked a group of South Korean tourists in the heart of Istanbul’s old city, believing they were Chinese. Gen. Verachon Sukhonthapatipak said that Thailand had assurances from Chinese authorities about the safety of 109 Uighurs.

Meanwhile in a possible bid to ease tensions, a report by Turkey’s state Anatolia news agency from inside Xinjiang said it found there were no special restrictions on Uighur Muslims during Ramadan.

“Thailand sent around 100 Uighurs back to China yesterday”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the Uighurs had left China illegally, and that Beijing opposes “any actions that aid and abet, or even support illegal migration”.

Under pressure from Beijing, countries including Cambodia, Malaysia and Pakistan have all in recent years forcibly returned fleeing Uighurs to China. “We are shocked by this deportation of some 100 people and consider it a flagrant violation of worldwide law”, said Volker Turk, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection.

Weerachon told reporters that Thailand had asked China to look after the safety of the Uighurs sent back.

China has accused Uighur separatists of terrorism in Xinjiang, where ethnic violence has left hundreds of people dead over the past two years.

The World Uyghur 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.