Mass rally in Turkey to support China's Uighur

Thousands of demonstrators in Turkey poured into the streets to show solidarity with the Uighur minority in northwestern China. Around 10,000 people gathered in Caglayan square in Istanbul on Sunday to denounce what they see as Chinese mistreatment of the Muslim Uighur minority in the Xinjiang region following the deadly violence in Urumqi. The protesters --carrying flags of a short-lived Uighur breakaway republic in the 1930s --called on the Turkish government to intervene to protect Muslim Uighurs, they also urged the government to boycott Chinese goods. The demonstration came a day after Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the violence in Xinjiang region as "a genocide". "These incidents in China are as if they are genocide, we ask the Chinese government not to remain a spectator to these incidents. There is clearly a savagery there", said Erdogan. At least 184 people have lost their lives in protests in the city of Urumqi over the past week, when the mainly Muslim Uighur minority took to the streets to protest 'discrimination under Chinese rule'. Chinese officials, however, said Saturday that 137 of the 184 casualties were the majority Han. The unrest -- the deadliest of its kind to hit China in decades -- was sparked over the last-month deaths of Uighur factory workers during a brawl between workers of Uighur and Han nationalities in southern China. The Uighurs --once the majority in Xinjiang-- accuse the Chinese government of discrimination and repression. The government, however, denies the charges.