Protesters chant slogans as they hold posters and pictures of victims during a protest against China's brutal crackdown on ethnic group Uyghurs, in front of the Chinese consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. Turkey's foreign minister has urged Chinese authorities to protect the cultural rights of minority Muslim Uyghurs in China's western Xinjiang province and allow them to "live their values," a Turkish official said Wednesday, June 5, 2024.

Turkey's foreign minister has urged Chinese authorities to protect the cultural rights of minority Muslim Uyghurs in China's western Xinjiang province and allow them to “live their values,” a Turkish official said Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday concluded a three-day visit to China, where he met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, Vice President Han Zheng and other officials. He also travelled to the cities of Urumqi and Kashgar in Xinjiang province, becoming the first Turkish official to travel to the region since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited in 2012.

Turkey has cultural and ethnic ties to the Uyghurs and many members of the community, fleeing human rights violations in the region, have found sanctuary in Turkey.

China is accused of sending more than a million Uyghurs and other largely Muslim minorities into prisons and detention camps. Beijing denies human rights abuses and says the centers were for vocational training.

The Turkish government, which once vehemently criticized China’s treatment of Uyghurs, has moderated its criticism as it developed stronger economic relations with Beijing.

Fidan told Chinese officials during his meetings that Turkey respects China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Turkish official said. But the minister added that the Turkish people and the Islamic world have “sensitivities” concerning the protection of Uyghurs' cultural rights, according to the official.

Fidan conveyed the message that removing the concerns “would be of great benefit to everyone,” according to the official, who provided the information on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

China is Turkey’s third-largest trading partner. Ankara is trying to reduce a trade imbalance that is in China's favor by urging it to import more Turkish agricultural goods, increase investments and motivate more Chinese tourists to visit Turkey, the official said.

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China eyes closer ties with Turkey to take on global 'power politics'

China is ready to strengthen strategic alignment with Turkey to counter "power politics" on the international stage, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, in Beijing on Tuesday.

"The two sides agreed on the need for close strategic communication ... to safeguard the common interests of developing countries," Wang said, according to a Chinese statement.

Wang said Beijing was willing to continuously expand cooperation with Ankara in economics, trade, energy, infrastructure, and the hi-tech and digital economy.

"China is willing to continue to strengthen coordination and cooperation with the Turkish side within the framework of the United Nations and the Group of 20, to oppose all forms of hegemony and power politics, and to maintain the stability of the global supply chain," he was quoted as saying.

The talks came on the second day of Fidan's three-day trip to China.

Earlier on Tuesday, Fidan met Vice-President Han Zheng, telling him that Ankara was ready to have close high-level exchanges with Beijing.

According to a Chinese statement, Fidan told Han that Turkey adhered to the one-China principle and "will not allow activities in Turkey that undermine China's territorial integrity".

Fidan is expected to visit the cities of Urumqi and Kashgar in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region before wrapping up his trip on Wednesday, according to Turkish broadcaster TRT.

If the trip is confirmed, Fidan would be the most senior Turkish official to visit the region since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was there as prime minister in April 2012.

Fidan began the trip with talks with security chief Chen Wenqing and by attending a dialogue organised by the Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG), a Beijing think tank.

During the dialogue, Fidan said the China-backed Brics grouping could offer Turkey a "good alternative" to the European Union to boost its economic prospects.

He said that while Turkey was in a customs union with Brussels, it was also exploring new opportunities for cooperation with several partners in different platforms such as Brics, an association of 10 emerging economies.

"Certainly, we would like to become a member of Brics. So we'll see how it goes this year," he said.

He said he looked forward to attending a meeting of the mechanism in Russia next week when foreign ministers from Brics countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - will meet in the western Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod as part of the lead-up to the October summit in Kazan.

One of the topics on the agenda is expected to be the possibility of Turkey, a Nato ally, joining the Brics grouping.

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Erdogan declared his country's intention to join six years ago at the Brics summit in Johannesburg but there has been little progress since then.

Speaking at the CCG event, Fidan said that one of the important pillars of Turkey's foreign policy was to form strong economic ties in an institutional form.

He said that due to "identity politics", Turkey has never been allowed in by some major EU nations to become a full member of the European bloc though it had been trying to join for a long time.

"So you have to look for other alternatives," Fidan said.

Although noting that Brics still "has a long way to go", "we cannot ignore the fact that Brics, as an important cooperation platform, offers some other countries a good alternative," he said.

"We see potential in Brics," he added.

Nearly four decades ago, Turkey applied to join what was then the European Economic Community, and in 1999 it was officially recognised as a candidate for full membership in the EU.

The negotiation on Ankara's accession bid began in 2005 but has long been stalled over a range of issues - from human rights to foreign policy - with several European capitals.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared his country's intention to join six years ago but there has been little progress. 

In Moscow on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the doors of Brics were "open to representatives of the most diverse economic and political systems and macro-regions".

"The only condition is that you must agree to work on the basis of the key principle of the sovereign equality of states," he said.

Fidan said investment and trade issues were parts of his agenda during his China trip, noting that the two countries were still "far behind" in making the most of their economic potential.

He said Turkey welcomed Chinese investment in the country, especially in key infrastructure projects, but in recent years, there had been a slowdown in joint investment projects.

"This is one of the things that I want to raise while I'm here in China, to really fix this slowdown, to try to speed it up, to identify what are the obstacles, what are the reasons that we are experiencing this slowdown," he said, adding that he would also discuss ways to balance bilateral trade.

In the first four months of this year, China's exports to Turkey fell 5.1 per cent from a year earlier in US dollar terms while imports were down 4.4 per cent, according to Chinese customs data.

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