China suggested on Monday December 16 that footballer Mesut Ozil should go to Xinjiang after his controversial tweet on the region where Beijing is carrying out a systematic policy of repression against the Muslim Uighurs minority. Sunday, the Chinese public channel CCTV had withdrawn from its programming the match of English Premier League between Manchester City and Arsenal, where the German player was to play.
"If Mr. Ozil has the opportunity, we will be happy for him to go to Xinjiang to find out" of the situation, a spokesperson for Chinese diplomacy Geng Shuang said to the press on Monday, saying that the Turkish-born footballer had been deceived by "False information".
Ozil, a German-born international international of Turkish origin, on Friday condemned China's crackdown on the Muslim minority in its western region, while criticizing Muslim countries for not denouncing it.
A player who defends Erdogan
"Korans are burned … mosques destroyed … Islamic schools banned … religious intellectuals killed one after the other … Brothers sent by force to camps", he was outraged in a message posted in Turkish on Twitter and Instagram.
# HayırlıCumalarDoğuTürkistan 🙏🏼 https://t.co/dJgeK4KSIk
“Muslims remain silent. We can't hear their voices "he added in his message, with the flag of what Uighur separatists call East Turkestan in the background. Arsenal has distanced itself from Ozil's comments on Saturday, saying the club has "Always adhered to the principle of not getting involved in politics".
The player, no 10 of the Gunners, 31, have moved closer in recent years to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of one of the few Muslim-majority countries critical of the treatment of Uighurs in China.
Mass internments of Muslim populations in Xinjiang
In the Xinjiang region, in western China, the Uighur Muslim minority is the object of arbitrary detention, extreme conditions of detention, practices aimed at brainwashing … The systematic repression of this minority, object for some years of criticism from non-governmental organizations, has recently been confirmed by extensive media inquiries from around the world, including The world.
The documents gathered confirm that Xi Jinping's China maintains a vast network of secret internment centers where at least one million people are detained. Beijing denies this figure and talks about "Vocational training centers", intended to help people find employment and keep them away from the temptation of Islamism and terrorism.
American basketball was also retaliated against the Chinese broadcaster following the support of Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey to pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, causing diplomatic tension between the two countries.
Our articles on the "China Cables" survey
In partnership with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), The world and 16 international media reveal in detail the operation of the repression of Uighurs by the Chinese regime. This information was obtained by the leak of secret documents from Beijing.
