Turkish lawmakers eye visit to China's Uighur region

Parliament is seeking permission from Chinese authorities to send a team to the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, where ethnic rioting earlier this month left 197 people dead, said Parliament Human Rights Committee head Zafer Uskul yesterday. Speaking to reporters, Uskul said that they are looking into the issue as a human rights matter. Stating that they will definitely not intervene in China's internal affairs, he added that a delegation of Turkish deputies would visit the region, where many ethnic Uighurs live, if Beijing permits the visit. He also said the visiting deputies would be mindful of Turkish-Chinese relations.