Thousands of Turkish citizens across the country protested on Wednesday night against the Chinese government's brutality towards Uyghurs and offered funeral prayers in absentia for the Uyghur Muslims killed in China for fasting in Ramadan.
After the Trawih prayer, a prayer during the Ramadan nights,Turkish nationals gathered at public places and mosque courtyards in almost all provinces in Turkey, including Istanbul, Ankara, Balıkesir, Aksaray, Karabük, Adıyaman and Gümüşhane.
As Muslims all over the world are observing the Holy month of Ramadan by fasting in the day time and praying at night, Uyghur Muslims in the northwest Chinese region of Xingjian, aslo known as East Turkestan, faced an official ban on these holy prayers.
China had banned Ramadan fasting for Muslim civil servants, students and teachers in the Muslim-populated area. The government also ordered all restaurants owned by Muslims to stay open during the daytime during Ramadan to continue selling specially cigarettes and alcohol.
Thousands of members from human rights organizations, NGOs, youth organizations and political parties in Turkey's main cities raised their voiced against the decade-long Chinese oppression to East Turkistan and its Muslim population.
The protesters said that Uyghur Muslims have been oppressed by the Chinese authority for 66 years and called for an immediate end to the brutality.
A group of protesters from the Anatolian Youth Organization in Aksaray province gathered in front of Ulu Mosque after their Trawih prayer. The group held banners written, “Hooray for cruel hell", “Muslim! Don't sleep, take care of your brother", “Don't forget Uyghur brothers in your prayer", and shouted anti-China slogans.
They said that human rights were violated in East Turkistan as the Chinese authority forced Muslims to drink alcohol even during the holy month of Ramadan.
Ramazan Özbek, one of the executive committee members of the organization, said that nearly 100 Uyghur Muslims were killed in Xinjiang, because they observed Ramadan by fasting. “In the same way, our brothers were not allowed prayer," he said and added that they want an immediate end to the oppression.
The group offered a funeral prayer in absentia and prayed for the martyrs.
A group of members from the Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, Youth Branch organized a fast breaking program in front of the Chinese consulate general's office in Istanbul for protesting the fast-ban in Xinjiang.
