Turkey calls on China to shut down Uighur "concentration camps"

Turkey slammed China for its "systematic assimilation policy towards Uighur Turks," labelling it a "great embarrassment for humanity" while urging Beijing to shut down the "concentration camps".

"China's systematic assimilation policy towards Uighur Turks is a great embarrassment for humanity," Anadolu Agency quoted Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) as saying.

"Turkey's Foreign Ministry calls on China to respect fundamental human rights of Uighur Turks and shut down concentration camps," the MFA further noted.

This comes amid a crackdown on Uighur Muslims in China, with the United Nations estimating that over one million Uighurs are being held in internment camps in the Xinjiang province.

Beijing has refuted claims of clamping down on the Uighurs, outlining that only people who have committed minor offences when involved in terrorist activities are made to go through vocational training at "vocational education institutions".

Practising Islam is illegal in some pockets of China. People caught fasting, praying, growing a beard or wearing a hijab attract arrest in the nation.