New report: China is threatening Uyghurs in Türkiye to spy on diaspora

new report out today shows how the People’s Republic of China is increasingly pressuring Uyghurs living in Türkiye to spy on the local Uyghur diaspora.

The report, Targeted in Türkiye: China’s Transnational Repression Against Uyghurs, used interviews with Uyghurs living in Türkiye to show how Chinese police are using transnational networks involving local Neighbourhood Working Groups in China and mission staff and informants in Türkiye to monitor and manipulate Uyghurs living overseas.

Chinese police leverage intelligence gathered from these networks to coerce Uyghurs into spying for them, keeping quiet about China’s human rights abuses or producing pro-China propaganda. In every case in this study, police used open or veiled threats against family members back home as part of the transnational repression. The findings in this report are consistent with results from other human rights reports focused on Uyghurs living in other countries in addition to Türkiye.

Note: Safeguard Defenders strongly discourages any member of the Uyghur diaspora in Türkiye from leaving without first having assured safe passage to a safe third country.

Yalkun’s story

In 2016, my friends and relatives began deleting me from their WeChat accounts. My grandmother and grandfather started ignoring my calls. My adult cousins with university diplomas went back to “school”. I stopped hearing from my uncle, who used to go for “tea” at the local police station. My five female cousins were detained in one night, leaving their kids behind.

My grandmother passed away in early 2018, without being able to see her beloved daughter – my mother. We grieved in our two-bedroomed apartment in Istanbul, far away from home and our loved ones. No one back home dared to speak to us on the phone when we wanted to express our condolences and share our pain.

Maybe all these experiences prepared me for the day I heard from my father for the last time in June 2018. He, too, disappeared without a trace and a proper goodbye. I accepted the reality quicker than I expected. I started searching for him and tried to find ways to save him. It took me two years to confirm his detention in the Qumul Detention Center and another two years to verify that he is currently serving a 16-yearprison sentence near Urümchi. I still don’t know why. I am not sure if he is in good health or if he knows he has a granddaughter now.

My uncle that used to go for “tea” at the local police station got a life sentence. My source told me to be grateful that my father is still alive, at least... Recently, my grandfather passed away. Nothing much has changed in five years – we grieved in our two-bedroomed apartment in Istanbul, far away from home and our loved ones still. I genuinely wish my story to be unique. Unfortunately, it is not. This is the reality of Uyghurs living in and outside the Uyghur region since 2016.