BEIJING (AP) – Abdullah Metseydi, an Uyghur in Turkey, was getting ready to go to bed last month when he heard a commotion and then banged on the door. “Police! Open the door!”
A dozen or more officers poured in, many with rifles and in the camouflage of the Turkish anti-terrorist force. They asked if Metseydi had participated in movements against China and threatened to deport him and his wife. They took him to a deportation facility, where he is now at the center of growing political controversy.
Opposition lawmakers in Turkey accuse Ankara leaders of secretly selling Uyghurs to China in exchange for vaccines against the coronavirus. Tens of millions of vials of promised Chinese vaccines have not yet been delivered. Meanwhile, Turkish police have raided and detained about 50 Uyghurs in deportation centers in recent months, lawyers say – a sharp increase from last year.
While there is still no hard evidence of anything in return, these lawmakers and the Uyghurs fear Beijing is using the vaccines as leverage to secure the approval of an extradition treaty. The treaty was signed years ago, but suddenly ratified by China in December, and could come before Turkish lawmakers this month.
Uyghurs say the bill, once law, could bring their ultimate life-threatening nightmare: deportation back to a country where they fled to avoid mass detention. More than a million Uyghurs and other largely Muslim minorities have been dragged into prisons and detention camps in China in what China calls an anti-terrorism measure, but the United States has declared genocide.
“I’m terrified of being deported,” Melike, Metseydi’s wife, said through tears, refusing to give her last name for fear of retaliation. “I’m concerned about my husband’s mental health.”
Suspicions of a deal surfaced when the first shipment of Chinese vaccines was held up for weeks in December. Officials blamed licensing issues.
But even now, Yildirim Kaya, a lawmaker for Turkey’s main opposition party, said China delivered only a third of its 30 million doses at the end of January. Turkey is largely dependent on the Chinese Sinovac vaccine to immunize its population against the virus, which has infected about 2.5 million and killed more than 26,000.
“Such a delay is not normal. We paid for these vaccines, ”said Kaya. “Is China Blackmailing Turkey?”
Kaya said he has formally asked the Turkish government about the pressure from China but has not yet received a response.
Both Turkish and Chinese authorities insist that the extradition bill is not intended to target Uyghurs for deportation. Chinese state media called such concerns “smearing,” and State Department spokesman Wang Wenbin denied any link between vaccines and the treaty.
“I think your speculation is unfounded,” Wang said at a press conference on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in December that the vaccine delay was unrelated to the Uyghur issue.
“We are not using the Uyghurs for political purposes, we are defending their human rights,” Cavusoglu said.
But while very few have been deported for now, the recent arrests have caused a chill in Turkey’s estimated 50,000-strong Uyghur community. And in recent weeks, the Turkish ambassador in Beijing has praised China’s vaccines, adding that Ankara values ”judicial cooperation” with China. – code, many Uighurs fear for possible crackdown.
In the past, a small number of Uyghurs have traveled to Syria to train with militants. But most Uyghurs in Turkey shun jihadists and worry they will hurt the Uyghur cause.
Lawyers representing the detained Uyghurs say that in most cases the Turkish police have no evidence of ties to terror groups. Ankara law professor Ilyas Dogan believes the detentions are politically motivated.
“They have no concrete evidence,” said Dogan, who now represents six Uyghurs in deportation centers, including Metseydi. “They are not serious.”
Even if the bill is ratified, Dogan has doubts that mass deportations will take place, given the widespread public sympathy for the Uyghurs in Turkey. But he believes the chances of individuals being deported will increase significantly.
Because of its shared cultural ties, Turkey has long been a safe haven for the Uyghurs, a Turkish group from China’s far western Xinjiang region. Turkish President Recep Erdogan condemned China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as “genocide” more than a decade ago.
That all changed with a coup attempt in Turkey in 2016, which led to a massive purge and alienation of Erdogan from Western governments. Waiting to fill the void was China, which is borrowing and investing billions in Turkey.
Signs of strong economic ties abound, big and small: an exporter with business in China was appointed Turkish Ambassador to Beijing. On the shores of Turkey’s Mediterranean Sea, a $ 1.7 billion coal power plant is being built by China. Istanbul Airport has obtained the world’s first “Chinese Friendly Airport” certification, by setting aside check-in counters to receive thousands of tourists from Shanghai and Beijing. And President Erdogan’s once fiery rhetoric has become dull and diplomatic, praising the Chinese leaders for their help.
China also began to request the extradition of many more Uyghurs from Turkey. In a leaked 2016 extradition request first reported by Axios and obtained independently by The Associated Press, Chinese officials asked for the extradition of an Uyghur former cell phone salesman, who accused him of promoting the Islamic State terror group online. The seller was arrested, but was eventually released and acquitted.
Abdurehim Parac, an Uyghur poet who has been detained twice in recent years, said that even detention in Turkey was “hotel-like” compared to the “hellish” conditions he was exposed to for three years in a Chinese prison. Imim was eventually released after a judge cleared his name. But he has a hard time sleeping at night for fear that the extradition bill would be enforced, calling the pressure “unbearable”.
“Death awaits me in China,” he said.
Growing fears are already leading to an influx of Uighurs who are moving to Germany, the Netherlands and other European countries. Some are so desperate that they even sneak across the border illegally, said Ali Kutad, who fled China to Turkey in 2016.
“Turkey is our second homeland,” said Kutad. “We are really scared.”
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Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul contributed to this report. Fraser reported from Ankara.