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ing the reign of Mao, although per capita income was very low, the working class and<br />
villagers enjoyed much better conditions in terms of access to educational and health<br />
services. 6<br />
According to economics professor Korkut Boratav, a leading Turkish socialist, the transformation<br />
initiated under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping in the wake of Mao’s death<br />
gained speed in the years following the end of the Soviet bloc. As a matter of fact, the<br />
demise of the communist regimes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe has deeply<br />
affected the leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC), convin<strong>cin</strong>g them of the<br />
superiority of the market mechanism and capitalist forms of management. 7<br />
According to the “universalist socialists”, human rights violations in Xinjiang should<br />
not be the sole purview of Islamist and nationalist groups in Turkey. The Uyghur issue<br />
should be addressed in the same way as all other suppressed peoples. Censuring the anti-<br />
Uyghur violence in China is generally left to racists and Islamists in Turkey. Whereas<br />
all who see socialism as a freedom project or who claim to take global democratization<br />
and human rights seriously should support the Uyghurs’ demands for democracy and<br />
human rights. 8<br />
13<br />
6 Ahmet Devrim, “Kapitalist Çin’in ‘komünist’ yönetimi giderek zorlanıyor”, Birgün, 6 November 2012.<br />
7 Korkut Boratav, “Çin Nereye?”, Birgün, 19 June 2012.<br />
8 Tarık Günersel, “Kürtler, Uygurlar, İfade Özgürlüğü”, Birgün, 12 July 2009.<br />
TURKISH PERCEPTIONS OF CHINA’S RISE
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