Uighur Muslims called on the Turkish government to take steps against the human rights abuses in China.

The protesters, who gathered at Istanbul’s Beyazit Square, held posters of missing relatives kept in concentration camps in China, chanting slogans against Beijing.

In Ankara, hundreds of Uighur Muslims gathered near the Chinese Embassy as Wang was meeting with Turkish Foreign Mevlut Cavusoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“During the last periods of the Chinese occupation, which began in 1949, genocide in East Turkestan is taking place in all its cultural, ethnic and other dimensions,” said Hidayet Oguzhan, the president of Istanbul-based Eastern Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association, at a press conference held to protest Yi’s visit.

“In East Turkestan, the Chinese government is committing a widespread human rights violation, including murders, extrajudicial executions, and life imprisonments,” he added.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Ankara on Thursday as part of a regional tour that includes Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Bahrain.