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An alleged spy for China residing in Istanbul evaded detection by Turkish authorities for years, Sadiq Memeteziz’s undercover work taking him to Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Syria and Xinjiang in China’s far-west, Turkish media reviews mentioned, citing official paperwork.
Memeteziz, or Shadeke Maimaitiaizazi in Chinese language, was one among six arrested on Feb. 20 for allegedly spying for China, Turkey’s Habertürk newspaper and TV channel mentioned Wednesday.
Habertürk revealed the identities of 4 the six males arrested earlier this week, indicating they met with Chinese language intelligence officers in Saudi Arabia.
The media reviews didn’t determine the ethnicity of the boys, however Radio Free Asia has confirmed that they’re all Uyghurs. One of many six, named Ehmetjan, was later launched. A seventh one continues to be at massive and wished by police.
The suspects are accused of spying on distinguished Uyghurs and Uyghur associations in Turkey and passing the knowledge to Chinese language intelligence officers. The arrests comply with a probe by the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau, media reviews mentioned.
If they’re certainly proven to have spied for China, the case would illustrate the lengths that Beijing will go to assemble info on Uyghurs overseas as a part of its transnational repression.
Uyghur diaspora
With roughly 50,000 Uyghurs residing in Turkey — the biggest Uyghur émigré inhabitants exterior Central Asia — the Muslim-majority nation has turn into a spotlight for Chinese language espionage.
Radio Free Asia in February 2023 reported on how the Chinese language authorities’s efforts to coerce Uyghurs to assemble info on one another undermines belief and might dampen social and cultural gatherings, stopping Uyghur refugees from rebuilding their communities overseas.
Previously, Turkey provided Uyghurs a secure place to dwell exterior China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Area, and is the one Turkic and Muslim nation that has constantly raised the problem of the plight of Uyghurs on the United Nations and in bilateral talks with China.
So this crackdown on alleged spies for China represents a shift on Turkey’s half.
The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s workplace wouldn’t touch upon the continued investigation. RFA couldn’t attain the Chinese language Embassy in Ankara for remark.
Household is shocked
Memeteziz’s son, who lives in Istanbul, instructed RFA that he doesn’t imagine his father is a legal, and that it’s untimely to name him such till judicial authorities concern a verdict.
“We additionally lately got here throughout the information and have been shocked by it,” mentioned the son, who declined to be named for worry of retribution. “It was a mixture of unhappiness and disbelief, as we by no means imagined such a factor might occur.”
The son mentioned he has lived aside from his father for two-and-a-half years, balancing work and research, and that they often checked in with one another.
“As of now, we haven’t obtained any updates from the police or the judicial our bodies,” he mentioned. “There was no concrete proof or affirmation, and judicial our bodies haven’t mentioned something like what was reported within the information reviews but. All we have heard is that he was arrested.”
“Personally, I discover this difficult to imagine as a result of he has been operating his personal enterprise for over 20 years,” the son added. “He has his personal model and merchandise, and even after we lived collectively, he centered on his enterprise and commerce with Central Asia. Politics was by no means his concern because of his enterprise commitments. Therefore, I doubt the accuracy of those information reviews.”
Particulars of alleged actions
Primarily based on an arrest discover issued by the Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau, Memeteziz, in his mid- to late 50s, moved to Turkey from Xinjiang – the place 11 million Uyghurs dwell – within the 2000s and had contact with somebody from the Ministry of Nationwide Safety, China’s spy company.
He met with an official named Li from the Chinese language Communist Social gathering’s Kargilik (Yecheng in Chinese language) County Committee in Xinjiang’s Kashgar prefecture, each by way of telephone and in particular person, the discover mentioned.
In line with info from the Turkish Nationwide Intelligence Service, it seems that Memeteziz met with Chinese language intelligence officers exterior Turkey. He traveled to Hong Kong in February 2023, then proceeded to Xinjiang’s Kargilik county, the place he had face-to-face conferences with two spies named Li and Alimjan.
Subsequently, Memeteziz met with Alimjan once more in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. To hide these conferences, Chinese language intelligence officers in China and Saudi Arabia offered Memeteziz with two totally different passports, the Turkish information reviews mentioned.
Data point out that Memeteziz continued to journey to and from Xinjiang with ease, significantly after 2017 when Chinese language authorities started detaining Uyghurs and different Turkic Muslims en masse in “re-education” camps beneath the guise of stopping non secular extremism and terrorist actions, the reviews mentioned.
In 2023, Memeteziz obtained US$7,000 in Beijing and US$15,000 in Saudi Arabia in change for his espionage actions for China, mentioned the reviews.
Upon his return to Turkey in August 2023, Memeteziz obtained details about Uyghur organizations and their conferences, and the addresses of distinguished Uyghurs residing in Turkey. He collected images and paperwork to share with Chinese language intelligence officers, the information reviews mentioned.
The discover from the chief prosecutor’s workplace mentioned that Memeteziz, beneath directions from the Chinese language intelligence company, tried in January 2023 to maneuver to an space the place Uyghur non secular instructor Abduqadir Yapchan resided, however he couldn’t discover lodging.
China had accused Yapchan of being a part of the East Turkestan Islamic Motion, a Muslim separatist group that the U.S. State Division dropped from its checklist of terrorist organizations in October 2020 due to an absence of credible proof that it continued to exist. Turkish police arrested him in August 2016 on costs of being a “terrorist” and saved him in detention or beneath home arrest.
In April 2021, a court docket in Turkey rejected a request by Beijing to extradite Yapchan to China to face terrorism costs, ending years of detention and authorized limbo beneath the specter of harsh Chinese language punishment.
Different suspects
The arrest warrant for a second suspect, Hebibulla Ürümci, mentioned he acted as an middleman in transferring cash from a spy named Alimjan to Memeteziz. It additionally indicated that Ürümci collaborated with Memeteziz in Pakistan and made a number of worldwide journeys, in response to Turkish media.
Hashim Sabitoğlu, the third man arrested, lately traveled to Saudi Arabia beneath the guise of creating an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest metropolis for Muslims, however as a substitute met with Chinese language intelligence operatives. Memeteziz obtained funds from China by Hashim beneath the guise of enterprise funds.
Abdullah Nasir, the fourth suspect, was reported to have repeatedly met with a Chinese language intelligence officer named Zhong Xuegang, who recognized himself as a Chinese language consulate officer.
Nasir was mentioned to have stayed with Zhong in a resort in Bursa, a metropolis in Turkey about 92 kilometers (57 miles) south of Istanbul. Nasir was additionally acquainted with a spy named Alimjan and had a big variety of passport data on file, Turkish media mentioned.
Memeteziz was assigned to assemble details about Uyghurs in Syria through the use of Abdullah, an worker at a Uyghur bakery in Zeytinburnu, a working-class space on the European aspect of Istanbul.
When RFA contacted Abdullah – the bakery employee, not the suspect Abdullah Nasir – he mentioned he didn’t know Memeteziz however talked about somebody from Kargilik who visited the bakery each two or three days, attempting to assemble details about Uyghurs in Turkey and in different nations.
“He would chat with me whereas shopping for naan,” Abdullah mentioned, referring to Uyghur flatbread. “In the future, he talked about wanting to assist folks in want and requested if there have been any non secular children from Kargilik. He requested me to let him know if I knew any. I instructed him I did not know any.”n
“I can’t verify if he’s a spy as a result of there’s numerous gossip locally,” Abdullah mentioned. “I did’t have a detailed relationship with him. He didn’t dwell in Zeytinburnu, and he instructed me he was coming from the Aksaray space to purchase naan.”
Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
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