BEIJING (AP) – Abdullah Metseydi, a Uighur from Turkey, was preparing to sleep last month when he heard a commotion and then knocked on the door. “Police! Open the door!”
A dozen or more officers arrived, many carrying weapons and using the camouflage of Turkey’s anti-terror force. They asked if Metseydi had participated in any movement 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 an emerging political controversy.
Opposition lawmakers in Turkey are accusing Ankara leaders of secretly selling Uighurs to China in exchange for coronavirus vaccines. Tens of millions of vials of the promised Chinese vaccines have yet to be delivered. Meanwhile, in recent months, Turkish police have raided and detained about 50 Uighurs at deportation centers, lawyers say – a marked increase from last year.
While no concrete evidence has emerged for a quid pro quo, these lawmakers and Uighurs fear that Beijing is using vaccines as a lever to get approval for an extradition treaty. The treaty was signed years ago, but was suddenly ratified by China in December, and could be presented to Turkish lawmakers later this month.
Uighurs say the bill, once a law, could bring their worst life-threatening nightmare: deportation back to a country they fled from to avoid mass detention. More than a million Uighurs and other largely Muslim minorities have been taken to prisons and detention camps in China, in what China calls an anti-terrorism measure, but the United States has declared genocide.
“I’m afraid of being deported,” said Metseydi’s wife Melike, in tears, refusing to give her surname for fear of retaliation. “I am concerned about my husband’s mental health.”
Suspicions of a deal arose when the first shipment of Chinese vaccines was withheld for weeks in December. The authorities blamed the problems with the licenses.
But even now, Yildirim Kaya, a lawmaker in Turkey’s main opposition party, said that China had delivered only a third of the 30 million doses it promised by the end of January. Turkey relies heavily on China’s Sinovac vaccine to immunize its population against the virus, which has infected some 2.5 million and killed more than 26,000.
“This delay is not normal. We pay for these vaccines, ”said Kaya. “Is China blackmailing Turkey?”
Kaya said he formally asked the Turkish government about pressure from China, but has yet to receive an answer.
Turkish and Chinese authorities insist that the extradition project does not target the deportation of Uighurs. Chinese state media called these concerns “defamation,” and Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin denied any connection between the vaccines and the treaty.
“I think his speculation is unfounded,” Wang said at a news conference on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in December that the vaccine delay was not related to the Uighurs issue.
“We do not use Uighurs for political purposes, we defend their human rights,” said Cavusoglu.
But while very few have actually been deported so far, the recent arrests have caused a chill in the 50,000-member Turkish Uighur community. And in recent weeks, the Turkish ambassador in Beijing praised China’s vaccines, adding that Ankara values ”judicial cooperation” with China – code, many Uighurs fear, for possible repression.
In the past, a small number of Uighurs traveled to Syria to train with militants. But most Uighurs in Turkey avoid jihadists and fear that they are damaging the Uighurs’ cause.
Lawyers representing the detained Uighurs say that in most cases, Turkish police have no evidence of links to terrorist groups. Ankara law professor Ilyas Dogan believes the arrests are politically motivated.
“They have no hard evidence,” said Dogan, who now represents six Uighurs in deportation centers, including Metseydi. “They are not serious.”
Even if the bill is ratified, Dogan doubts that there will be mass deportations, given the widespread public sympathy for Uighurs in Turkey. But he believes that the chances of individuals being deported would increase significantly.
Because of shared cultural ties, Turkey has long been a safe haven for Uighurs, a Turkish group native to the Xinjiang region, in the far west of China. Turkish President Recep Erdogan denounced China’s treatment of Uighurs as “genocide” more than a decade ago.
Everything changed with an attempted coup in Turkey in 2016, which triggered a mass purge and alienated Erdogan from Western governments. Waiting to fill the void was China, which is lending and investing billions in Turkey.
Signs of strong economic ties abound, large and small: an exporter with business in China has been appointed Turkey’s ambassador to Beijing. A $ 1.7 billion Chinese-funded coal plant is being built on the shores of Turkey’s Mediterranean Sea. Istanbul Airport obtained the world’s first “China Friendly Airport” certification, reserving check-in counters to receive thousands of tourists from Shanghai and Beijing. And President Erdogan’s once-inflamed rhetoric has become dull and diplomatic, praising China’s leaders for their help.
China has also begun to request the extradition of many other Uighurs from Turkey. In an extradition request released in 2016, first reported by Axios and obtained independently by The Associated Press, Chinese authorities have asked for the extradition of a former Uighur cell phone seller, accusing him of promoting the Islamic State terrorist group online. The seller was arrested, but eventually released and cleared of the charges.
Abdurehim Parac, a Uighur poet who has been detained twice in recent years, said that even his detention in Turkey was “similar to a hotel” compared to the “hellish” conditions he was subjected to during three years in Chinese prison. Imim was eventually released after a judge cleared his name. But he has trouble sleeping at night for fear that the extradition project will be ratified and called the pressure “unbearable”.
“Death awaits me in China,” he said.
Rising fears are already generating an influx of Uighurs moving to Germany, the Netherlands and other European countries. Some are so desperate that they are even crossing borders illegally, said Ali Kutad, who fled China for Turkey in 2016.
“Turkey is our second home,” said Kutad. “We are very scared.”
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Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul contributed to this report. Fraser reported from Ankara.