Chinese state media have slammed western media for “distorting” China’s ethnic minority policies after anti-China demonstrations broke out in Turkey over the weekend.
The living conditions of ethnic minorities in China have long been twisted by a small number of Western media, a report by the Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
Allegations that the Chinese government imposed restrictions on Uyghurs during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and “demagogic speeches made by a small number of agitators” have led to recent anti-China protests in Turkey, Xinhua said.
On Saturday Turkish nationalists attacked a group of tourists from South Korea in Istanbul, mistaking them for Chinese. The incident happened at Topkapi Palace, a tourist hotspot, where activists demonstrated against China’s alleged persecution of Muslim Uyghurs. The Korean tourists were rescued by riot police.
İSTANBUL – Ülkü Ocakları Doğu Türkistan’daki Çin Zülmunü Protesto Etti . #KahrolsunKızılÇin pic.twitter.com/WJ3i0u0rCd
— Olcay Kılavuz (@OlcayKilavuz) July 4, 2015
Memursen Ankara’da Çin Büyükelçiliği Önünde Eylem yaptı #ÇİN#DOĞU TÜRKİSTAN # MEMUR SEN http://t.co/hAoMhg85mV — haberyenirota (@haberyenirota) July 2, 2015
#Uyghur Turk demonstrators set fire to a #Chinese flag during a protest in #Ankara pic.twitter.com/4kuma92tcu — Abdugheni Sabit (@AbdugheniSabit) July 4, 2015