According to authorities, the naming regulations are designed to curtail ‘religious fervour’. But the ruling also targets Uyghur nationalism, which is often conflated with Islamic extremism in China. Names with the stem ‘Turk’ — such as Turkizat and Turkinaz — are also banned. But curiously Mehmet — the Turkic (and Uyghur) version of Muhammad and … Continue reading China’s dangerous ethnic policies in Xinjiang