Uighurs used as “cannon fodder”

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha also raised the possibility of shutting the Thai Embassy in Turkey after protesters attacked the honorary consulate in Istanbul, smashing windows and ransacking parts of the building, over the expulsion of the Uighurs back to China.

It was the latest protest in Turkey over the treatment of the Turkic-speaking, largely Muslim minority in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, where Uighurs say they face cultural and religious repression.

“I ask that we look after the safety of the embassy staff first”, Prayuth told reporters.

Talking about the closure of the embassy and the consulate in Turkey, Mr Sukhondhapatipak said, “We will assess the situation on a daily basis”.

China is home to about 20 million Muslims spread across its vast territory, only a portion of whom are Uighur.

The recent decision to deport more than 100 Uighurs back to China comes with a heavy price.

In Turkey, where Uighur issues are followed increasingly closely, protests were staged outside Thai and Chinese diplomatic missions.

Verachon would have done better to tell the world that Thailand has no regard for global conventions that it has signed over the years or that the government couldn’t care less as to what will happen to the Uighur refugees when they are sent back to China. Fifty others still need to have their citizenship verified.

Meanwhile, eight more Uighurs have been sent to Turkey – four of them women and four children, reported by Deputy Government Spokesman Maj-General Werachon Sukondhapatipak. Reports also said women were heard asking Thai officials not to return them to China, where many say they face persecution – severe and unfair treatment. “The remaining people of Turkic origin should be allowed to depart voluntarily to a country of their choice that is willing to receive them”, the European Union said in a statement.

[…] The protests started following reports that Uighurs in China had been banned from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

“The arm of Chinese law is getting longer, and these countries are trying to curry favor with China by being very responsive to its national security concerns”, said Zachary Abuza, a researcher on Southeast Asian security issues based in Boston.

Erdogan said he planned to raise the plight of the Uighurs during his coming trip to China, as stated by local media.

On Thursday, police in the capital Ankara used tear gas to disperse a group of about 100 protesters at the Chinese Embassy after they knocked down a barricade. The street remained closed to traffic.

The two incidents were the latest in mostly orchestrated by a youth group linked to Turkey’s opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Bahceli told Hurriyet newspaper on Wednesday. Thai expatriates were advised not to visit the embassy at this time.

Uighur migrants at a holding centre in Songkhla. The HRW said Friday that “Thailand has cravenly caved to pressure from Beijing” by “forcibly sending” the people to China.

Thailand has been forging closer military and economic ties with China since its military took control in Bangkok in May 2014, drawing criticism from its longtime ally, the United States.