July 30, 2019 - 8:23 AM
ISTANBUL - Turkey's foreign minister says a delegation will visit China's northwestern Xinjiang region to observe the situation of minority Uighur Turks.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that Turkey accepted an invitation from China to visit Xinjiang and will send 10 officials.
He told Turkey's official Anadolu news agency in Bangkok that "our expectation is for our Uighur brethren to live under one Chinese roof in peace."
Turkey has previously expressed concern over China's arbitrary detentions of Muslim and Turkic Uighurs in internment camps, which Beijing calls vocational training centres. Turkey also wants to strengthen its trade relations with China.
After international condemnation of the detention centres, China has begun organizing highly choreographed trips to Xinjiang for journalists and foreign officials.
Rights groups estimate that more than 1 million people are being held in the camps.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019