In times when China is growing ever influential with other governments become increasingly reluctant to criticize the Dragon, it is good to know that someone has the courage to stand up and go against the wave. In response to the situation in Xinjiang where a racial riot between Uighur minority and Han majority that caused death on both sides happened, Turkey accused China of committing genocide against the minority.[1]
Turkey’s accusation of genocide is a tad too dramatic however. Furthermore, given Turkey’s history, Turkey might not have the moral authority to make that accusation, regardless the truth of the allegation.
That however does not negate the fact that Turkey’s criticism of China is appropriate at this juncture. What happened and is happening in Xinjiang cannot be left ignored by the world. Turkey went to keep the issue from dying, as China would want it.
If Turkey had remained silenced, China would remain relatively free from criticism from various governments. That would continue to create a suffocating momentum that gradually but ominously creates an environment where China is free from criticism. Continous unadmonished behavior of China may give it the idea that as long as it is an internal matter, it could do whatever it like. That is clearly false.
A break of that trend is important to demonstrate how that is false. Turkey broke it and that is why I salute Turkey.
[1] — The comment by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that Chinese policy in Xinjiang was ”like a genocide” and that China should ”abandon its policy of assimilation,” will ring in Beijing ears for a long time. However excessive his choice of words, Mr. Erdogan was in effect speaking for all Turkic people from the Mediterranean to central China. [The Echoes of Xinjiang. Philip Bowring. New York Times. July 14 2009]
