By Mehmet Emin Caliskan

ISTANBUL (Reuters] – Nineteen members from China’s Uyghur Muslim community filed a criminal complaint against a Turkish prosecutor Tuesday. The accusation included genocide, torture and rape, as well other human rights violations.

Gulden Sonmez, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in this case, stated that it was necessary due to international organizations not acting against Chinese authorities. Since 2016, around one million Uyghurs have been held in detention camps.

China denied that the camps were ever there, at first. But it has now stated they are vocational centers and have been created to fight extremism. All allegations of abuse are denied by China.

Turkey has the largest Uyghur diaspora, accounting for approximately 50.000 Uyghurs.

The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office received the complaint.

China’s Embassy in Turkey, and the Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately reply to our requests for comment.

Sonmez stated that the international criminal court ought to have initiated the trial but China is a member the UN Security Council, and this makes it impossible within the dynamic.” Sonmez spoke outside the city’s main Courthouse.

More than 50 individuals held photos and posters calling for Chinese officials to be prosecuted around the lawyer. Some waved blue-and-white flags representing the East Turkestan independence movement. Beijing claims this group threatens stability in Xinjiang’s far west region.

This complaint concerns 116 individuals who, according to the complainants, are currently detained in China. It was filed against 112 persons, which includes directors of labour camps, members of the Chinese Communist Party and other officers.

“Turkish law recognizes universal jurisdiction. Sonmez stated that torture, genocide and rape, as well as crimes against humanity, can all be brought to trial in Turkish courts.

“RESCUE MY SISTER”

Medine Nazimi was one of the people who brought in the criminal case. She said that her sister had been abducted in 2017, and had never been heard from.

Nazimi stated, “My sister is a Turkish citizen so my government should rescue my sister.”

After the signing of an extradition treaty, some Uyghurs in Turkey have criticized Ankara’s treatment towards China. In March, Turkey’s foreign ministry stated that the agreement was comparable to others Ankara has made with other countries and did not say it would result in Uyghurs being returned to China.

Some Turkish opposition leaders accused the government in ignoring Uyghur Rights to make way for other China-related interests, which is something that the government strongly denies.

In July, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoan told Xi Jinping that Turkey valued Uyghur Muslims being peacefully “equal citizens in China”. However, Xi Jinping said that Turkey respects China’s national sovereignty.

U.N. specialists and rights organizations estimate that more than a million Uyghurs and Muslims have been held in Xinjiang camps over the past few years.