The refusal of the authorities in Kazan (there is no doubt that this decision was made at the level of the republican leadership) to allow peaceful pickets in support of the Uyghurs stands out especially against the backdrop of events in the West.
So far, envoys from 15 Western countries have signed a petition to the Chinese authorities demanding access to the so-called «re-education camps» for Uyghurs and other Muslims. Chinese crony capitalists, of course, have responded with a refusal. As reported by Idel.Real, the official spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, stated: «Some diplomats from Western countries have said they would like to visit Xinjiang to so-called ‘study the human rights situation’. Such actions go beyond the duties of diplomats and exceed the scope of their mandate under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Therefore, we will not allow them to take this step.
But Beijing’s response is hardly surprising. What is surprising is the attention paid by Western countries to the problem of Muslim Turks in China, in contrast to the complete silence of the rulers of the Turkic peoples on this issue. Moreover, while it can be explained that the authorities of Tatarstan are essentially colonial deputies of Moscow, the same cannot be said about the independent state of Kazakhstan, which allows itself to make decisions about changing the Cyrillic script to Latin.
Nevertheless, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister shamelessly declares that the persecution of not only Uyghurs but also ethnic Kazakhs in China is an internal affair of China. However, what can be said when the authorities of the most powerful Turkic state, Turkey, promise the Chinese communists to «put an end to any information attacks against China» on their territory and refrain from making official statements on this issue, while allowing themselves very harsh attacks against Western countries or Israel?
Of course, it should be noted that this ostrich-like position is the prerogative of modern Turkish rulers, not of society. As the initiative of the Union of Tatar Youth «Azatlyk» to hold pickets, the earlier position of the Mufti of Tatarstan, Kamil Samigullin, and the reactions of numerous Tatar commentators on social media show, Tatar society is in solidarity not with its authorities, but with oppressed Turkic and Muslim brothers and sisters in China. The attitude of national and Islamic communities in other Turkic states is similar, openly expressing solidarity with their brothers and sisters.
However, as can be seen, the rulers of the Turkic states and quasi-states currently fear possible discontent from China much more than the discontent of their own national and Islamic societies. In our opinion, this should make them think about the reasons for such a situation and how to change it.