"The Human Rights Committee in the Turkish Parliament discussed the Uyghur issue."

On October 12, 2023, the Human Rights Committee in the Turkish Parliament discussed the ongoing human rights violations suffered by the Uyghurs. During the meeting, Mr. Selshuk Türkoghlu, a parliament member from the "Good Party," stated, "I proposed the establishment of a special investigation committee for the Uyghurs. However, since it fell under the scope of the 'Committee to Combat Islamophobia and Racism,' a specific committee dedicated to human rights violations in East Turkistan was not formed. Therefore, this committee must conduct an investigation into human rights violations and genocide in East Turkistan."
On July 3 of this year, after discussing a proposed project to create a committee to investigate human rights violations in East Turkistan, presented by parliament member Selshuk Türkoghlu of the "Good Party," no committee was formed for this purpose. Instead, a committee called the "Committee to Combat Islamophobia and Racism" was established.
On October 12, 2023, Mr. Selshuk Türkoghlu, a member of the Human Rights Committee in the Turkish Parliament, made some suggestions in his closing remarks. He stated, "As we all know, there are Uyghur representatives and non-governmental organizations in Turkey. We have Uyghur brothers and sisters in Turkey, and their relatives, neighbors, and guardians are in East Turkistan. So, in our upcoming meeting, I will ask representatives from non-governmental organizations and witnesses of the camp victims to testify."
We conducted a telephone interview with parliament member Selshuk Türkoghlu, he said, "We have included monitoring of human rights violations in East Turkistan and conducting investigations within the committee's scope of work. In the Human Rights Committee meeting held on October 12, I made some proposals to conduct investigations with the victims of detention camps in Turkey. In the coming days, our committee will carry out important work regarding the Uyghurs. Although the Turkish Parliament has been delayed in this matter, we will try to complete it in the upcoming days."
The Human Rights Committee in the Turkish Parliament consists of 12 members from the Justice and Development Party, 6 members from the Republican People's Party, 3 members from the People's Left Party, 2 members from the Nationalist Movement Party, 2 members from the Liberal Party, and 2 independent parliament members, totaling 27 members. The committee is responsible for investigating human rights violations both within and outside Turkey and preparing a report to submit to the government.
Can the "committee to combat Islamophobia and racism", a branch of the human rights commission, do something concrete for Uyghurs?"
Selshuk Ozdagh, a member of Parliament from the future party, responded to our question via text message, writing: "the human rights committee of the Turkish parliament should have made efforts to stop human rights violations in East Turkistan. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. It would be nice to have a private discussion on this issue and make plans right now. The committee should request that a committee composed of parliamentarians from all political parties be allowed to visit East Turkistan. We have been confirming this request since 2018, but unfortunately, it has not been fulfilled so far. If the government is not obstructed, the human rights commission can do a lot to stop the massacre of Uyghurs, he said.
The president of the World Uyghur Congress Foundation, Mr. Abdul Rashid Abdul Hamid, answered our question on this matter: "I think that since the newly established" anti-Islamophobia and racism committee" of the human rights committee of the Turkish Parliament deals with the issue of human rights suffered by Uyghurs, it would be good to start investigating those who are still unable to communicate with their relatives in Turkey or people whose relatives have been sent to prisons and concentration camps back home. If they conduct an investigation, collect information and submit a report to the Turkish government and parliament, the Turkish government can express its position to the Chinese government based on this report or present it in international forums such as the UN group of Turkish States. I think that the human rights committee of the Turkish parliament is much overdue in this regard.
rfa.org