Turks criticize Chinese treatment of Uyghurs

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) – Turkey's prime minister continued his outspoken criticism of China's crackdown on ethnic Uyghurs on Saturday.

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 G8 summit in Italy that "the incidents in China are a genocide. There's no point in interpreting this otherwise."

Many Turks view the Uyghurs of Central Asia as fellow Turkic, Muslim brothers.