Turkey cuts off Chinese embassy's water supply as two countries spat over Uyghur genocide

Days after piling a massive mud heap on the road in front of the Chinese embassy in excavation to detect what it described  ‘water fraud,’ Ankara Municipality of Turkey on Saturday cut the Chinese Embassy’s water supply. Turkey’s blockade of water to PRC’s embassy was a move that came in retaliation to its threats on Twitter that it could take action against two Turkish politicians who criticized Beijing’s human rights violations against the Muslim Uyghur community. The two nations indulged in the fracas as they each exchanged heated rhetorics over comments made on the ethnic minority community’s treatment in China by a Uyghur activist in Turkey, and its subsequent discordant verbal responses on part of Beijing. 

Turkish envoys on Twitter condemned China’s “humiliating interference” in Ankara’s domestic affairs, and the Chinese embassy attacked Turkey of a smear campaign as it defended Beijing’s policies, adding that China reserved the right to a rightful response. The two countries engaged in a bitter spat over Uyghurs' persecution by Chinese armed forces during the 1990 uprising. "China is opposed with determination to any challenge by any individual or power to its sovereignty and territorial integrity," the Chinese embassy tweeted, tagging the two Turkish politicians, Meral Aksener, the head of the opposition Good Party, and Ankara’s mayor, Mansur Yavas. "The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is an integral part of Chinese territory. This is an internationally accepted and indisputable fact," the embassy continued.

In retaliation to China’s remarks, interpreted as a threat by Turkey, East Turkestan National Assembly Seyit Tumturk tweeted: 'China is becoming involved in Turkey's domestic affairs right now which was never seen before in Turkey's political history and that's very humiliating.’ Furthermore, as the two nations roiled over the matter, Turkey's Foreign Ministry summoned Chinese ambassador Liu Shaobin to Ankara over his embassy’s recent provocations. Turkish MFA condemned China’s “right to respond” remark on transcontinental country’s marking of the 31st anniversary of Uyghurs’ revolt against Chinese military in Baren township.

As the exchange of barbed words continued, Ankara Municipality launched a massive excavation project in front of the embassy on April 7. Several squads from the Ankara Water and Sewage Administration (ASKİ) were seen drilling the site of the Chinese embassy, an act objected to by Chinese delegates. China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijiant tweeted that “some people in Turkey made wrong remarks on Twitter that brazenly encouraged terrorists” and “the response of China’s embassy in Turkey were absolutely appropriate” on April 7. 

"We thank everyone for their understanding about the discomfort caused by the work we started in front of the Chinese embassy in an attempt to detect fraud that Ankara residents are paying for in this time when our water resources are fast shrinking," ASKİ Assistant Director Cüneyt Öztürk said in a tweet. 

1990 issue of Uyghur persecution

Turkey has consistently slammed China for minority Uyghur persecution in China as the majority Muslim minority groups are culturally Turkic. The Turkic Muslim population native to China’s Xinjiang region has also sought refuge in Turkey and the Chinese provinces inhabited by Uyghurs are termed by the pan-Turkic nationalists as ‘East Turkestan’.