By Satuk Bugra Kutlugun
ANKARA
Anti-China protests continued across Turkey for a second day Thursday, with crowds gathering in public places to demand China stop what marchers perceive to be discrimination against its Muslim population.
Demonstrations in the cities of Ordu, Giresun, Rize, Corum, Bayburt, Sinop, Karaman and Isparta -- and six more -- added to the 26 locations where protests had taken place overnight.
At most venues -- mostly prominent public squares -- the diatribe was strong and the presence predominantly loud and male. There, leaders claimed unsavory acts had been carried out by China against its Turkic Uighur population.
Women and children also took part. In places such as the eastern city of Erzurum they stood in the midday sun holding round placards in the Turkish red and Uighur sky blue.
Each was emblazoned with the phrase "Look after your sibling and tell oppression to stop."
The protests follow a Tuesday statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry that expressed "deep concern" about reports that Beijing has instilled restrictions on segments of its Muslim population during the holy month of Ramadan.
"It has been publicly heard with sorrow that there are reports of the fasting and fulfilling of religious duties by Uighur Turks being banned," it said.
The marches have mostly started around and after iftar -- when Muslims break their daily fast -- with people taking to the streets, holding placards and shouting slogans.
In the Tarabya district of Istanbul -- the home of the Chinese Consulate, and the largest protest so far -- hundreds of members of the youth branch of the country's dominant political force, the AK Party -- a vociferous champion of Muslim rights -- gathered outside the building where they broke fast with water and Turkish bagels.
Slogans such as "Long live hell for torturers", "Silence is consent, wake up and raise your voice" and "We stand with East Turkestan" were shouted.
Many of the protests have been organized by "Anadolu Genclik Dernegi" -- Anatolia Youth Association (AGD), a conservative group based in capital Ankara.
Their protests begin with a loud march, end with a press release, and hush to a funeral prayer for those in absentia "who have lost their lives under Chinese oppression".
AGD Antalya branch head Siddik Uyar has claimed in a strong statement that more than 100 Uighur Turks had been martyred in China for attempting to do little more than follow their faith.
He added that Muslims in China had also been forced to drink alcohol.
On Thursday afternoon, an association in the western city of Kocaeli called for economic action.
"The Muslim world should start a boycott and stop buying Chinese products," the chairman of the Association of Human Rights Defenders, Ali Akbas, told Anadolu Agency.
He added that he also wanted Turkey to revise its political and economic agreements with China, unless the country "ends the torture of Uighur".
On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry said that her government had noted Turkey's concerns and wanted clarification.
"All ethnic groups in China are entitled to the freedom of religious belief under Chinese constitution," Hua Chunying said through a translator.
In mid-June, it was widely reported that China had banned fasting in parts of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for Party members, civil servants, students and teachers.
That claim followed allegations last year that Beijing had issued warnings to employees and students not to fast during the holy month.
It is also reported to have restricted men from having long beards, clamped down on religious education activities, and acted to control the entrances and exits to mosques.
On Thursday, Hua said that Beijing attached great importance to its developing relationship with Turkey.
"We hope we can develop the bilateral relationship, based on a mutual respect of each other’s major concerns and common interests," she said.
"We hope that the Turkish side will work together with us to maintain the smooth development of the bilateral relationship."
The "concern" expressed by marchers is reflective of the sentiment that many Turks have with regard to the Uighur issue.
Many refer to China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region -- home to many ethnic minority groups, including Turkic Uighur people -- as East Turkestan.
They believe that Uighur are among a number of Turkic tribes that inhabit the region, and consider it to be part of Central Asia, not China.
Uighur, a Turkic group that makes up around 45 percent of the population of Xinjiang, has accused China of carrying out repressive policies that restrain their religious, commercial and cultural activities.
Most of the marchers loudly agree, although in Ankara the mood has been a little more subdued.
A public screening in an AK Party stronghold on the capital's outskirts saw Party Vice-Chairman Suleyman Soylu attend a public information broadcast called "What is happening in East Turkestan."
"Seeing the saddening reports in East Turkestan make us understand more about the freedom we enjoy in Turkey," Soylu told the crowd.
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