A Turkish court issues a decision to extradite Uyghurs to China.

A Turkish court's decision to extradite Uyghurs from East Turkistan to China has sparked a major uproar among migrant communities. A press conference was held in Istanbul today to discuss the matter.

According to Karar newspaper on March 13, the 16th and 18th Administrative Courts in Istanbul ruled to extradite Erkin Abduweli and Mahmut Inaya, two Uyghurs who fled the Chinese genocide and resided in Turkey, directly to China rather than to a third country. The decision was based on the grounds that there was "no concrete and serious evidence that they would be persecuted upon their return to their country."

The lawyers for the affected Uyghurs filed a petition with the Turkish Supreme Court to overturn the decision, arguing that the court's ruling not only contradicts the Turkish government's promise that "Uyghurs cannot be returned to China," but also violates international agreements.

The report noted that China's genocidal crimes against the people of East Turkestan have been cited and condemned by numerous international organizations, such as the UN Human Rights Committee, the European Union, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. A 2022 UN statement signed by 43 countries, including the Turkish government, also referred to China's practices of torture, humiliation, and sexual violence in East Turkistan, and the targeting of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities. However, it is surprising that the Turkish court uses the pretext of "the absence of concrete and serious material evidence that they will be subjected to persecution or danger to their lives upon their return to their country."

The Turkish court's decision to directly return Uyghurs to China for the first time has shocked Uyghurs in the diaspora and raised concerns about their fate.

To protest the court's decision, the International Union of East Turkistan Organizations, the East Turkistan Human Rights Watch Association, and the International Association for Migrant Rights held a joint press conference today (March 14) in front of the Istanbul Regional Administrative Court.

At the meeting, Ibrahim Ergin, Vice President of the International Migrant Rights Association; Kaya Kartal, President of the Association for Cooperation for Human Rights and the Oppressed; and Abdulahad Odun, Secretary General of the East Turkistan Human Rights Watch Association, read separate statements.

The statement from the East Turkistan Human Rights Watch Association emphasized that the court's decision regarding the Uyghurs is not just a legal crisis, but a humanitarian and moral one, and that the court's decision also contradicts Turkey's historical responsibility. The statement also emphasized that international organizations have published numerous credible reports on the ongoing genocide in East Turkistan and called on the Republic of Turkey and its judicial bodies to act in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles.