Starting with the second half of 1990s, Turkish-Chinese relations have had a considerable revival. Along this process, officials from both countries have made numerous mutual visits on many levels, signing a number of agreements. However, the events that took place on July 5th 2009 in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang Weiwu'er Zizhiqu) have caused great anger among the Turkish public.
While China was protested by the Turkish public, the ruling government adamantly criticized the incident, with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan describing the situation as an “almost genocide.” In fact, looking at the incidents from a more informed perspective, it is possible to see that the situation is different than it appears to Turkey. While the harsh response of Chinese security forces to the protesters or the poor performance of legal channels deserve criticism, certain other facts have been largely ignored, suchas the instigators being mostly Uyghurs and the majority of the dead and injured being of Han Chinese origin.
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