Six people suspected of spying on Uyghur refugees on Turkish soil on behalf of Chinese intelligence services have been arrested in Istanbul, Turkey's state news agency Anadolu announced on Tuesday.
A seventh suspect is still being sought, also accused of having collected information on members and associations of the Muslim and Turkish-speaking Uyghur minority, according to Anadolu.
Several tens of thousands of Uyghurs have found refuge in recent years in Turkey, a culturally close country which is one of the main defenders of their cause against Beijing, accused of crimes against humanity against them.
Accusations of genocide
Uyghur demonstrators regularly gather in front of the Chinese consulate in Istanbul, holding up portraits of family members about whom they say they have not heard from, sometimes for years.
Several Western countries, including the United States, France and the United Kingdom, have denounced an
ongoing
“genocide” against the Uyghurs.
Since 2017, more than a million of them or members of other ethnic groups, mainly Muslims, have been interned in “ re-education
” “camps
”
,
terms rejected by Beijing which refers to training centers allowing distance the population from extremism and ensure peace.