Thailand closes diplomatic representatives in Turkey

Baku. 10 July. REPORT.AZ/ Turkish, anti-Chinese demonstrators stormed the Thai consulate in Istanbul to protest the deportation by Bangkok of dozens of Uighur Muslims to China, as diplomatic tensions flared yesterday in an increasingly combustible controversy.

Report informs citing foreign media, the attack was the latest in a series of nationalist-tinted protests in Turkey during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan over China's treatment of the Turkic-speaking, largely Muslim Uighurs in the northwestern Xinjiang region.

Nine people were arrested after the action at the consulate building in Istanbul late Wednesday organised by a group calling itself East Turkestan Education Association, the Dogan news agency reported.

They broke down the doors to the building, pulled down the sign outside and damaged the furnishings inside, television footage showed.

The Thai flag was pulled down as the building was also pelted with stones. Files and documents were flung outside and littered the street while a man was seen battering a window down with a post.

Shocked consulate workers returned to the office yesterday to find their workplace upturned, with broken glass and debris littering the floor.

And now Thai government tends to close diplomatic representatives in Turkey.