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Turkey Accused of Extraditing Uighur Muslims to China in Exchange for COVID-19 Vaccines

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images
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Turkey Accused of Extraditing Uighur Muslims to China in Exchange for COVID-19 Vaccines

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey has been accused of agreeing to hand over Uighur Muslims to China in exchange for access to its COVID-19 vaccines.

The allegations stem from the timing of two events in December: the long-delayed arrival of Turkey's order of vaccines from the Chinese firm Sinovac and Beijing's abrupt move to ratify a 2017 extradition deal with Ankara, The Business Insider reported.

Turkey had planned to start vaccinating people with the Sinovac shot on December 11, according to Al-Monitor. But the first shipment did not arrive until December 30.

The vaccine delay prompted opposition politicians in Turkey to raise concerns that China pressured the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to ratify the extradition deal if it wanted to access the vaccines.

China announced that it had ratified the extradition treaty on December 27. The deal means that Turkey must extradite anyone with criminal charges to China if asked, and vice versa.

Turkey has not ratified the deal, though the country's parliament is expected to discuss it when it reconvenes on January 26, The Nikkei reported.

'Is the Chinese vaccine being held for the return of Uighur Turks?'

The Chinese ratification of the extradition treaty has prompted concern that Turkey would expel its Uighur population to China, where they face intense surveillance and mass detention.

In recent years, China has charged Uighurs with arbitrary crimes, such as growing a beard and receiving calls from other countries. Members of the Uighur diaspora previously told Insider they were too afraid to contact their relatives in Xinjiang for fear of Chinese retribution against their family.

Over the last few years, thousands of Uighurs have fled China for Turkey, whose language and culture are similar to those of the Uighur community. According to The Guardian and Voice of America, Turkey is home to some 50,000 Uighurs, the largest Uighur diasporic group in the world.

At the time of China's ratification, Dilxat Raxit, a spokesperson for the World Uyghur Congress, told AFP: "This extradition treaty will cause worry among Uighurs who have fled China and do not yet have Turkish citizenship."

Many Uighurs who had fled China to Turkey do not have Turkish citizenship, meaning Ankara cannot protect them.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu responded to the claims by saying that China had asked for Turkey to extradite Uighur Muslims to China, but that Turkey had declined.

"China had such demands but we have not taken such steps," Çavuşoğlu said, according to The Nikkei.

Çavuşoğlu also denied that the government had agreed to ratify the 2017 agreement in exchange for vaccines.

Turkey's changing position on Uighurs

Since 2016, China has arbitrarily detained at least 1 million Uighurs in scores of camps across Xinjiang, claiming they are a terror threat.

Despite Turkey's place as a safe haven for Uighurs, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appeared to cozy up to China in recent years, putting those Uighurs' fate in flux.

Between 2009 and 2015, Erdogan had openly welcomed Uighurs to his country, but much has changed since.

For example, in July 2019, Turkey did not sign a UN Human Rights Council letter that slammed China's "mass arbitrary detentions and related violations" of Uighurs.

The same month, Erdogan told President Xi Jinping that Uighurs in Xinjiang were "happy," according to Chinese state media. Ankara later said that Erdogan had been misunderstood, a claim China denied.

Ahmet Davutoglu, a former ally of Erdogan and opposition leader, said in December 2019 that there was "a special, unquestioning favoritism toward China in recent times," Al Monitor reported.

And in early 2020, Erdogan's party blocked a move by its opposition to set up a parliamentary committee to investigate human-rights abuses in Xinjiang. However, some Uighurs believe that opposition to Turkey's extradition deal will be enough to derail the ratification.

"The Chinese Communist Party will take all the actions it can to force the Turkish government but we don't think [the treaty] will pass. The Turkish people and NGOs will stand up against it," Kamer Artiş, a Uighur activist living in Turkey, told The Guardian.

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World

Has Iran Built an Espionage Network in Israel?

People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
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Has Iran Built an Espionage Network in Israel?

People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN

For the past year, Israel has arrested dozens of Israeli citizens on suspicion of spying for Iran, Yedioth Ahronoth has reported on.

The Hebrew newspaper revealed on Saturday that some of the recruits were asked to photograph sensitive facilities and to collect information including documentation of Israeli army bases, strategic sites and homes linked to senior Israeli officials.

The newspaper said that since September 2024, Israeli authorities have uncovered 35 serious Iranian espionage cases. In some, individuals acted alone; in others, they were part of organized cells, with a mission to sow chaos, burn vehicles and carry out failed assassination plots.

It said the youngest of their recruits is a 13-year-old boy from Tel Aviv. Others had served in the reserves and regular forces.

They leaked sensitive information, including documentation of sensitive military bases, strategic sites and homes linked to senior Israeli officials.

The recruits included Mordechai “Moti” Maman, 72, of Ashkelon. He entered Iran twice and discussed with the agents the possibility of carrying out terror attacks in Israel.

The Iranian handlers discussed with him the option of assassinating senior figures such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

After Maman told them the level of security surrounding senior officials made such attacks impractical, the sides discussed alternative terror and espionage activities, including possible attacks on former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett or mayors. Maman was arrested in September 2024.

In October 2024, four cells were arrested, including a couple who had been in contact with Iranian agents since 2021 and groups of five to eight people on suspicion of conducting espionage for Iran.

One of the cases involved seven Israelis who immigrated from Azerbaijan, including a father and son, suspected of maintaining ties for two years with operatives from Iran.

As part of that relationship, the suspects photographed military bases that later became targets in Iran’s ballistic missile attack last year. Some of the group were caught surveilling a senior Israeli official and his son, allegedly as part of an assassination plan.

Authorities also uncovered another case in which seven people aged 19 to 23 from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa were arrested on suspicion of conducting espionage for Iran for several months. Their main assignment was to assassinate an Israeli nuclear scientist and a mayor.

In early 2025, another espionage case was uncovered, and an indictment was filed against an Israeli from Petah Tikva, on charges including contact with a foreign agent and passing information to the enemy.

According to the indictment, the recruit photographed the neighborhood of National Unity party leader Benny Gantz and a power station in Tel Aviv.

His handler contacted him via Telegram and offered payment through a digital wallet in exchange for carrying out security-related tasks. These included documenting security facilities, spraying political graffiti, arson attacks on vehicles and other acts.

During 2025, more than nine indictments have been filed against cells and individuals accused of spying for Iran, most of them Jews the newspaper said.
Investigations revealed that most of the spies had carried out various missions in exchange for payment.

The majority of the recruits had not travelled to Iran to complete their recruitment, but communicated with Iranians through social networks or during their presence in other countries.

World

Polls Open for Myanmar's 1st Election Since Military Seized Power

Myanmar voters line up to cast ballots during the first phase of general election at a polling station in Naypyitaw, the capital city of Myanmar, 28 December 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
Myanmar voters line up to cast ballots during the first phase of general election at a polling station in Naypyitaw, the capital city of Myanmar, 28 December 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
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Polls Open for Myanmar's 1st Election Since Military Seized Power

Myanmar voters line up to cast ballots during the first phase of general election at a polling station in Naypyitaw, the capital city of Myanmar, 28 December 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
Myanmar voters line up to cast ballots during the first phase of general election at a polling station in Naypyitaw, the capital city of Myanmar, 28 December 2025. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT

Voters went to the polls Sunday for the initial phase of Myanmar ’s first general election in five years, held under the supervision of its military government while a civil war rages throughout much of the country.

Final results will not be known until after two more rounds of voting are completed later in January. It is widely expected that Min Aung Hlaing, the general who has ruled the country with an iron hand since an army takeover in 2021, will then assume the presidency.

The military government has presented the vote as a return to electoral democracy, but its bid for legitimacy is marred by bans on formerly popular opposition parties and reports that soldiers have used threats to force voters to participate.

While more than 4,800 candidates from 57 parties are competing for seats in national and regional legislatures, only six are competing nationwide with the possibility to gain political clout in Parliament. The well-organized and funded Union Solidarity and Development Party, with its support from the military, is by far the strongest contender.

Voting is taking place in three phases, with Sunday’s first round being held in 102 of Myanmar’s 330 townships. The second phase will take place Jan. 11, and the third on Jan. 25. Final results are expected to be announced by February.

Critics call the election a sham to keep the army in power Critics charge that the election is designed to add a facade of legitimacy to military rule that began when the military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. It blocked her National League for Democracy party from serving a second term despite winning a landslide victory in the 2020 election.

They argue that the results will lack legitimacy due to the exclusion of major parties and limits on freedom of speech and an atmosphere of repression.

The expected victory of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party makes the nominal transition to civilian rule a chimera, say opponents of military rule and independent analysts.

“An election organized by a junta that continues to bomb civilians, jail political leaders, and criminalize all forms of dissent is not an election — it is a theater of the absurd performed at gunpoint,” Tom Andrews, the UN-appointed human rights expert for Myanmar, posted on X.

The United Nations also said Sunday that Myanmar needs free elections.

"It is critical that the future of Myanmar is determined through a free, fair, inclusive and credible process that reflects the will of its people," said the United Nations in Myanmar, adding the UN "stands in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and their democratic aspirations.”

Holding the election may provide an excuse for neighbors like China, India and Thailand to continue their support, claiming the election promotes stability.

Western nations have maintained sanctions against Myanmar’s ruling generals due to their anti-democratic actions and the brutal war against their opponents.

Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s 80-year-old former leader, and her party are not participating in the polls. She is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as spurious and politically motivated. Her party, the National League for Democracy, was dissolved in 2023 after refusing to register under new military rules.

Other parties also refused to register or declined to run under conditions they deem unfair, and opposition groups have called for a voter boycott.

World

Report: North Korean Money Launderer Transfers Funds to IRGC

Revolutionary Guard commanders during a meeting with Iranian Supreme leader (Khamenei’s website)
Revolutionary Guard commanders during a meeting with Iranian Supreme leader (Khamenei’s website)
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Report: North Korean Money Launderer Transfers Funds to IRGC

Revolutionary Guard commanders during a meeting with Iranian Supreme leader (Khamenei’s website)
Revolutionary Guard commanders during a meeting with Iranian Supreme leader (Khamenei’s website)

A media report published in South Korea has revealed traces of financial transactions between Iran’s regime and North Korea, both US-sanctioned states, signaling the two countries’ increasing use of non-traditional financial tools to circumvent restrictions on their banking systems.

According to blockchain tracking sources, transactions between both countries were carried out through the money-laundering network of a North Korean operative using cryptocurrencies, with part of the funds transferred to entities affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the South Korean Chosun Ilbo newspaper said in an article published last Friday.

It said investigations by TRM Labs show that dollars were transferred this year from a cryptocurrency wallet belonging to Sim Hyon-sop, a North Korean money launderer, to a wallet linked to the Revolutionary Guard.

According to the newspaper, Iran’s regime may have exchanged cryptocurrency to evade sanctions, convert funds into US dollars, or even pay for oil.

It said Iran and North Korea, both under severe US sanctions, have increasingly turned in recent years to opaque financial tools, mainly cryptocurrencies.

Analysts told the newspaper that these transactions are a sign of overlapping financial networks between the two countries aimed at circumventing the sanctions system.

Sim Hyon-sop, who is wanted by the FBI on charges of money laundering and sanctions evasion, has played a key role in this network.

According to the newspaper, Sim saw his bounty rise from $5 million to $7 million (approximately 10 billion Korean won) in July.

Born in Pyongyang in 1983, he is affiliated with North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank, which has been on US sanctions lists.

He used aliases such as “Sim Ali” and “Sim Hajim” and posed as a representative of Kwangson Bank.

Chosun Ilbo said Sim’s laundering process was meticulous: North Korean “IT workers” sent him cryptocurrency stolen through hacking or received as wages, routing it through multiple digital wallets to obscure traces.

Sim then transferred the funds to pre-selected brokers in an Arab country or China, who converted them into US dollars.

Also, foreign currency earned by North Korean laborers in Russia, China, and Africa flowed into Sim’s accounts via similar laundering routes.

The newspaper showed that part of the earnings were not sent directly to North Korea but were instead spent on purchasing goods, equipment, and even weapons needed by Kim Jong Un’s regime.

Among the examples cited is the use of a company in Zimbabwe to purchase a $300,000 helicopter in Russia and deliver it to North Korea.

Additionally, the newspaper said about $800,000 were spent to procure raw materials for producing counterfeit cigarettes, one of Pyongyang’s main sources of income.

The Chosun Ilbo report stated that US banks, including Citibank, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo, failed to detect Sim’s money-laundering activities. It said at least 310 transactions totaling $74 million were processed through the US financial system.

Referring to data from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Chainalysis, the report said dozens of North Korean “shadow bankers” are active outside the country. Over several years, they have laundered more than $6 billion in stolen cryptocurrency for the regime.

Chosun Ilbo said that although the US federal court had issued an arrest warrant for Sim in March 2023, his capture remains nearly impossible.