ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- Turkey's prime minister continued his outspoken criticism of China's crackdown on ethnic Uyghurs on Saturday. A Uyghur student cries as Turks pray on Friday in Ankara, Turkey, for people who died in protests in Urumqi, China. In remarks published by the official Anatolian Agency, Recep Tayyip Erdogan denouncing what he called "savagery" and called on the Chinese government to "give up efforts to assimilate" the country's Uyghur minority. On Friday, Erdogan went a step further, announcing to journalists upon his return to Ankara from the Group of Eight summit in Italy that "the incidents in China are a genocide. There's no point in interpreting this otherwise."
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Turkey's PM calls on China to stop assimilation efforts of Uyghurs in Xinjiang
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Prime Minister Erdogan labels latest violence in Urumqi as "genocide"
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Clashes in Urumqi erupted over ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and Han
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Several hundred Turkish and Uyghur demonstrators gathered during the past week to protest outside the Chinese embassy in @placeholder.
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"The Uyghurs and @placeholder consider themselves as the same people.
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We embrace the opportunity to meet with our @placeholder cousins."