Chinese agents in Pakistan, Turkey target Uyghurs overseas, alleges scholar
Nov 07, 2020
Washington [US], November 7 : Chinese national security personnel frequently operate in Pakistan, Dubai, Turkey, and Cairo and retaliate against Uyghur Muslims living overseas, revealed an Uyghur scholar Abduweli Ayup.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Ayup, a scholar living in Norway, has exposed the Chinese government network which targets Uyghurs living outside China.
Ayup's friend Yusufjan Amet, an Uyghur who claims he was forced to spy on members of his ethnic group living in exile in Turkey for China's government, was assassinated by a gunman in Istanbul on Monday.
Ayup revealed that he had known Amet for many years. Amet told him about his experience of being forced to serve as a Chinese spy, so he encouraged Amet to break the news to the media.
In 2018, he introduced Al Jazeera reporters to interview Amet. Unexpectedly, just after the
the program was broadcast in January last year, Amet told him that he had been intimidated by the former boss of the Chinese Communist Party Guoan.
"His boss in Karamay, Xinjiang, contacted him and said, "You have become famous in Turkey, you have become a hero, but you should not think that Turkey will protect you and Western countries will protect you," Ayup said.
"It is not uncommon for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to monitor and even retaliate against Uighurs overseas. Ayup pointed out that Chinese national security personnel frequently operate in Pakistan, Dubai, Istanbul and Cairo," he added.
Ilshat H. Kokbore, director of the Chinese Affairs Department of the World Uyghur Congress, pointed out in an interview with Radio Free Asia that the CCP attempted to shoot and kill Uyghurs, which was the first time that this happened in Turkey.
This case is very shocking. "This shows that the CCP is now aggressive, and it is beginning to reach out to countries like Turkey," Kokbore said.
China's atrocities on Uyghur Muslims living in Xinjiang are known to the world. In June, documents were leaked from the province showing that across Europe, exiled Uyghurs report surveillance by Beijing and threats of harm to their relatives in the region if they make noise about Chinese repression.
According to the Hill, the leaked documents from Xinjiang show the Chinese government's reasons for detaining several hundred Uighurs.
The Karakax list contains personal data on more than 300 individuals with relatives abroad.
The Chinese government has flagged "people who leave the country and do not return" as a security risk in Xinjiang, because of their possible ties to exiled groups deemed as "separatists" by Beijing.
