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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 13-Jul-2009
Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan accuses China of genocide in Xinjiang

Web Log - July, 2009

Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan accuses China of genocide in Xinjiang

Emphasizing Turkic ethnic identity over Muslim religious identity.

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Muslims are supposed to share common interests, yet among Arabs and Persians, reaction to China's crackdown on the Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang province has been muted and perfunctory.

Not so among the citizens of Turkey. In a dramatic development, thousands of them have been demonstrating and protesting in Ankara and across Turkey in support of the Uighurs, burning Chinese flags and products.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that genocide was being committed:

"The incidents in China are, simply put, a genocide. There's no point in interpreting this otherwise. ... We're having trouble understanding how the Chinese government would remain a bystander to this. We want the Chinese administration, with which our bilateral ties are continuously improving, to show sensitivity."

On Saturday, Erdogan escalated escalated the rhetoric by urging China to stop the "assimilation" of its Uighur minority:

"We ask the government of China to abandon assimilation, because such assimilation can do you no good. No state, no society which attacks the lives and rights of innocent civilians can guarantee its security and prosperity. Whether they are Turkic Uighurs or Chinese, we cannot tolerate such atrocities. The suffering of the Uighurs is ours."

Turkey's foreign ministry added, "The Turkish people feel very close to the Uighur people and share their suffering."

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, what's interesting about this situation is that the Uighurs have two identities -- an ethnic Turkic identity and a religious Muslim identity -- and it's the ethnic Turkic identity that's turning out to be more important in the current crisis.

(At this point, it's worthwhile pointing out that the Turkish people are not so named because they're from the country Turkey. Instead, it's the opposite: The original name of the region was "Anatolia." The Turkish or Turkic people came from central Asia, and they named the country "Turkey" when they settled there and created the Ottoman Empire. For more information about the generational history of Turkey, see "Consequences of Russia/Georgia conflict spread to southern Caucasus.")

There's undoubtedly a feeling among the Turkish people for wanting a tiny bit of political revenge. They're furious that the west is blaming them for the Armenian genocide that occurred during WW I, and accompanied the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. So now they have an opportunity to accuse someone else of genocide. And Erdogan's remarks about "assimilation" refer to their own failure to assimilate the Armenians in the 1910s and, more recently, the PKK Kurds.

What's most interesting about this situation is the that way it illuminates developing international alignments. Turkey has been trying to boost economic ties with China, and President Abdullah Gul last month became the first Turkish president to visit China in 15 years.

But instead of developing closer ties with China, there are calls for a Turkish boycott of Chinese goods. This is not surprising since the Turkic people have had many wars with the Chinese people over the centuries, and the hatred exhibited by the Uighurs in the last couple of weeks toward the Han Chinese has been truly enormous. We will be watching this in the months to come.

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the China thread and the Turkey thread of the Generational Dynamics forum.) (13-Jul-2009) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 13-Jul-2009 Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan accuses China of genocide in Xinjiang

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 13-Jul-2009
Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan accuses China of genocide in Xinjiang