Turkey on Wednesday brushed aside fears that a new extradition treaty with China would result in Ankara deporting Muslim Uighurs en masse.

About 20 Uighurs with Turkish citizenship picketed China's consulate in Istanbul after the Chinese parliament ratified the 2017 treaty on Saturday.

Ankara has not yet ratified the agreement, but its approval in Beijing has put Turkey's estimated 50,000-strong Uighur community on edge.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu did not say when Turkey's parliament might debate the agreement.

But he said its approval would not mean "Turkey will release Uighurs to China".

"Until now, there have been requests for returns from China related to Uighurs in Turkey. And you know Turkey hasn't taken steps like this," Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara.

It would be "wrong and unfair to say it's a deal for the extradition of Uighurs. We are more sensitive to such issues than others," he said.

Uighurs speak a Turkic language and have cultural ties with Turkey that make it a favoured destination for avoiding persecution in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.

But news reports have accused Turkey of covertly returning Uighurs to China via third countries.

Rights activists say Xinjiang is home to a vast network of extrajudicial internment camps that have imprisoned at least one million people.

China says these are vocational training centres to counter extremism.

Ethnic Uighurs rallied for the ninth day running Wednesday to express their fears about the extradition treaty.

"God willing, we hope our state will not approve such a thing," said Omer Farah, an Uighur with Turkish citizenship who said his children are detained in China.

"But if it does, we are really worried. Because for China, all 50,000 Uighurs who live here are criminals."

China confirms Uighur doctor jailed for 'terrorism'
Beijing (AFP) Dec 31, 2020 - A Uighur Muslim doctor has been jailed on terrorism charges, Beijing confirmed Thursday, a day after her family told US politicians she had been sentenced to 20 years.

Gulshan Abbas vanished into detention two years ago, but her relatives told a US congressional committee Wednesday that the 58-year-old had been sentenced to 20 years in prison because of activism on behalf of Uighurs.

Rights groups say an estimated one million Uighurs and other Turkic minorities languish in detention camps in China's northwestern Xinjiang region in prison-like conditions.

China insists they are "vocational training centres", but activists say inmates face torture and forced labour.

"Gulshan Abbas has been sentenced according to the law by Chinese judicial organs for taking part in organised terrorism, aiding terrorist activities and seriously disrupting social order," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters.

He did not give further details of her alleged crimes.

"We urge US politicians to respect facts, stop fabricating lies to smear China, and stop using the Xinjiang issue to interfere in China's domestic affairs," he added.

Various Western countries and organisations including the US, EU and UN have criticised China's policies in Xinjiang, most recently highlighting alleged forced labour practices involving Uighur Muslims.

That has spotlighted alleged abuses inside the textile supply chain in particular, where cotton harvested in Xinjiang by forced or cheap labour is believed to make cheap garments for Western high streets.

A retired doctor who is fluent in Mandarin, Abbas was detained in September 2018, according to testimony from her sister, Rushan Abbas, provided to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year.

Rushan Abbas, who is based in the US, has been outspoken in campaigning for her sister's release.

"Today my family shared the devastating news we received on Christmas Day: that my sister, Dr Gulshan Abbas, was sentenced to 20 yrs in prison by the Chinese regime," tweeted Rushan Abbas on Wednesday.

"Horrific as her unjust suffering is, I am thankful for the support of so many human rights allies."

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