New incident, same old playbook. The Chinese are no doubt brutal and bloodthirsty. But every defense against every jihad is a “genocide.” It is a propaganda weapon, and makes it more difficult to tell whether genocide is actually going on. If they didn’t claim it so often each individual claim might be more credible and worthy of a strong response. We will see if Erdogan’s statement gets parroted by other Muslim leaders — if it becomes a worldwide drumbeat the OIC may be able to get something going at the UN, as the Islamic world has succeeded in doing regarding the Palestinian Arabs.
“Erdogan: Xinjiang is ‘nearly genocide.’ But the Islamic world remains cautious,” from Asia News, July 14 (thanks to C. Cantoni):
Ankara (AsiaNews / Agencies) – The Islamic world feels little solidarity it seems, with fellow believers in Xinjiang. Among governments, however, Turkey has distinguished itself. Yesterday, Premier Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defined what is happening in China as “nearly genocide.” The Turkish prime minister made this statement at the end of the G8 in L’Aquila, where the heads of nations did not mention events in Xinjiang at all, though President Hu Jintao cancelled his presence at the summit as a result of the demonstrations and subsequent clashes between Uyghurs and police and between Han and Uyghurs in recent days.
“On the one hand – said Erdogan – we talk about universal human rights, but on the other hand, we have to witness something like this.” Stating that he has expressed his concerns to the heads of state and ministers of the G8, the Turkish premier added: “I have used the word “˜atrocity” before”¦”¦ no other word can describe a situation which is nearly genocide in which hundreds have been killed and more than 1,000 others wounded”.
Erdogan also said that Turkey is considering putting the issue of the Uyghurs on the agenda of the Security Council, but it is almost certain that China would block the step, it being a permanent member of the Council and stating that Xinjiang is an internal problem.
In the Islamic world there are some demonstrations in favour of the Uyghurs. Yesterday in Istanbul about 5 thousand people demonstrated in front of the Fatih mosque after Friday prayers shouting “No to ethnic cleansing” and burning Chinese products. Two days ago, Nihat Ergun, the Turkish trade minister called on his fellow countrymen to boycott Chinese goods. The population of Turkey has historical, linguistic and ethnic bonds with the Uyghurs.
The demonstrations and protests worldwide that have occurred in recent days are all due to the exiled Uyghur community. In Canberra (Australia) 200 people gathered in front of the parliament shouting “death to Chinese terrorists”. In Holland, in The Hague other exiled Uyghurs launched stones against the Chinese embassy; other exiles in Berlin staged a sit-in in front of the embassy….