Turkish Foreign Ministry Summons Chinese Ambassador Over Social Media Posts - Source

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has summoned Chinese Ambassador Liu Shaobin over the diplomatic mission's social media posts about the Xinjiang autonomous region featuring mentions of Turkey's opposition politicians, a diplomatic source in Ankara told Sputnik on Tuesday

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th April, 2021) The Turkish Foreign Ministry has summoned Chinese Ambassador Liu Shaobin over the diplomatic mission's social media posts about the Xinjiang autonomous region featuring mentions of Turkey's opposition politicians, a diplomatic source in Ankara told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"The Chinese ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry due to our concerns over posts on social media," the source said, without specifying details.

Earlier in the day, the Chinese embassy's tweeted that Xinjiang was an integral part of the Chinese territory, saying "this is an internationally accepted and indisputable fact." The diplomatic mission also mentioned Turkey's Good Party chair Meral Aksener and Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas, who had criticized China's alleged human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority.

In August 2018, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reported that large numbers of ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities were being held in political "reeducation camps" in Xinjiang often for long periods, and without being charged or tried under the pretext of countering terrorism and religious extremism.

China has refuted these claims as unfounded and not reflective of reality. Chinese authorities argued that the vocational education and training centers were part of the nation's anti-extremism campaign to help Uyghurs learn the standard Mandarin language and obtain adequate professional skills.