China says Turkey president offered support over restive Xinjiang

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, July 2, 2019. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS

BEIJING (Reuters) - Turkey recognises the fact that the people of China's Xinjiang lead happy lives, Chinese state media on Tuesday cited Turkish President Tayip Erdogan as saying, a region where China has been running a controversial de-radicalisation scheme.

China has faced growing international opprobrium for setting up what it calls vocation training centres to combat extremism in Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur people who speak a Turkic language, which many Western countries view as internment camps.