{"id":5148,"date":"2015-07-03T11:59:31","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T10:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=5148"},"modified":"2015-07-03T11:59:31","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T10:59:31","slug":"thousands-protest-chinas-fasting-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/thousands-protest-chinas-fasting-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands protest China’s fasting ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thousands<\/a>Protests broke out overnight all over Turkey with thousands of people taking to the streets to demand that China stop its alleged discrimination against Muslims.
\nDemonstrators gathered in Istanbul, Izmir, Trabzon, Samsun, Bursa, and 20 other locations late Wednesday to chant and shout for justice for an area Turks call East Turkestan.
\nIn some places protests continued into the early hours of Thursday morning.
\nThe marches by several organizations and associations started around and after iftar – when Muslims break their daily fast – with people taking to the streets, holding placards and shouting slogans.
\nIn Tarabya in Istanbul – the home of the Chinese Consulate, and the largest protest – hundreds of members of the youth branch of the country’s dominant political force, the AK Party, gathered outside the building where they broke fast with water and Turkish bagels.
\nSlogans such as “Long live hell for torturers”, “Silence is consent, wake up and raise your voice” and “We stand with East Turkestan” were shouted.
\nThe protests follow an official statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday that expressed “deep concern” about reports that Beijing has instilled a fasting ban on segments of its Muslim population.
\n“It has been publicly heard with sorrow that there are reports of the fasting and fulfilling of religious duties by Uighur Turks being banned,” the statement said.
\nIt offered no explanation as to what it wanted China to do about the reported ban.
\nOn Wednesday a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry said that her government had noted Turkey’s remarks and wanted clarification.
\n“All ethnic groups in China are entitled to the freedom of religious belief under Chinese constitution,” Hua Chunying said through a translator.
\nIn mid-June, it was widely reported that China had banned fasting in parts of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for Party members, civil servants, students and teachers.
\nOn Thursday, Hua said that Beijing attached great importance to its developing relationship with Turkey.
\n“We hope we can develop the bilateral relationship, based on a mutual respect of each other\u2019s major concerns and common interests,” she said.
\n“We hope that the Turkish side will work together with us to maintain the smooth development of the bilateral relationship.”
\nThe “concern” expressed Wednesday night is reflective of the sentiment that many Turks have with regard to the Uighur issue.
\nMany Turks refer to China\u2019s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region – home to many ethnic minority groups, including Turkic Uighur people — as East Turkestan.
\nThey believe that Uighur are among a number of Turkic tribes that inhabit the region, and consider it to be part of Central Asia, not China.
\nUighur, a Turkic group that makes up around 45 percent of the population of Xinjiang, has accused China of carrying out repressive policies that restrain their religious, commercial and cultural activities.<\/p>\n

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