BEIJING (AP) — Opposition legislators in Turkey are accusing Ankara’s leaders of secretly selling out Uighurs to China as a quid pro quo for vaccines. Tens of millions of vials of Chinese vaccines were promised to Turkey but many have not yet been delivered. Meanwhile, lawyers say Turkish police have raided dozens of Uighur homes for deportation in recent months — a sharp uptick from last year. Uighurs fear that Beijing is using the vaccines as leverage to win passage of an extradition treaty that was signed years ago but not yet ratified in Turkish Parliament. They fear the bill, once law, could lead to deportation and near-certain detention in China.
