Despite the recent ransacking of the Thai consulate in Turkey after Bangkok deported 109 Uighurs to China, Thai students in the country say they do not feel threatened.
Turkey-based Thai students say that while they do not feel under threat, they are concerned the long-term diplomatic ties between Bangkok and Ankara could be damaged if the Uighur issue is not handled properly.
They said Chinese claims that Uighurs were implicated in terrorist activities in Turkey sends the wrong message to the world. “There were attempts to link the migrants to Isis using Turkey as a transit point, even though the Turkish government is against Isis,” said Mussanna Wongsan, a student at Istanbul University.
Talking to the Bangkok Post Sunday by phone from Turkey, Mr Mussanna said the recent tension was also overplayed in Thailand.
“The people who attacked the Thai consulate office in Turkey were not even a majority. They are right-wing nationalists with emotionally-charged reactions.”
Mr Mussanna was referring to the group which recently ransacked the Thai consulate office in Istanbul. Thais living in Turkey and some European countries were advised to take extra precautions as Thai embassies were subjected to protests over the deportation of Uighur asylum-seekers.
But Mr Mussanna and other Thai students said the incident did not affect them. “Thai people are not the target. Nationalists understand that it was a decision by the Thai government … there has been no widespread tension against Thais,” he said.
However, Mr Mussanna said he was often asked by lecturers and fellow students why the Thai government had deported the Uighurs to China.
“The deportation gave a bad image to Thailand. The Thai government has to explain the reasons they had to send these people to China,” said Mr Mussanna.
Another Thai student in Turkey said he disagreed with advice from the embassy that Thais not reveal their nationality to avoid violent reactions from Turkish nationalists.
“Why do we have to hide our identity? We are proud to be Thai,” said Anwar Komah, a student at Dokuzeylul University in Izmir. Mr Anwar said he understood the warning from Bangkok was in response to an attack by Turkish nationalists on a Korean tourist group in Istanbul after mistaking them for Chinese people.
“The situation was not that bad,” Mr Anwar said. He is now back in his hometown in Satun for the summer break from university, but said he has been in close contact with Thai students in Turkey. “The situation has calmed down,” he said.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency, citing the Ministry of Public Security, said the 109 “illegal immigrants” had been on their way “to join jihad” in Turkey, Syria or Iraq, and 13 of them had fled China after being implicated in terrorist activities.
Yasmin Sattar, a student at the Institute of Social Science at Istanbul University, said: “We disagree with the Thai government sending 109 Uighur migrants to China because we don’t know what will happen to them. We have concerns over human rights.”
Ms Yasmin, on a school break in Pattani, said there are about 200 Thai students studying in Turkey, most of them on scholarships funded by the Turkish government. Half are now back home in Thailand for the summer break. “The students are afraid that if there is a misunderstanding and people believe terrorism is rife in Turkey, it may jeopardise future relations between Thailand and Turkey,” she said.
Meanwhile, an exiled minority rights group slammed a Chinese state TV report yesterday that suggested Uighurs who had been forcibly repatriated after fleeing the country had returned to a “heaven on earth”.
Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, called the report a propaganda tool.