By Selen Tonkus
KUALA LUMPUR
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has started a three-day visit to Malaysia, during which he attended the opening of the 48th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers Meeting.
Diplomatic sources told Anadolu Agency that among subjects discussed at the opening were the situation of Uighur Muslims currently being held at detention centers in Thailand.
The sources - who cannot be named due to Turkish government policy - said that Thai Foreign Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn had said that Thailand "closely follows" the situation of 109 Uighur migrants sent to China from a group of around 350 people detained in Thai immigration centers for around two years.
The move - which followed the relocation of around 180 Uighur Turks to Turkey - caused outrage among Turkish rights groups.
The Thai government has since said it has sent a fact-finding team to China and the Uighur were being treated "well" by the Chinese government.
The sources said that the two ministers also discussed boosting bilateral economic and political relations with the thoughts of reviving Joint Economic Commissions and Turkey becoming a "dialogue partner" to ASEAN.
Cavusoglu also thanked Malaysian counterpart Anifah Aman for sheltering around 1,000 Rohingya boat people, who arrived on Malaysian shores in May after Thailand began to clamp down on smuggling camps on its border.
Malaysia - along with Indonesia - has said it will shelter the boat people for one year, but then the international community must find homes for them elsewhere.
Established in 1967 in Bangkok, ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
According to Turkey's Foreign Ministry website, institutional relations between Turkey and the Southeast Asian grouping were initially established in 2010 when Turkey became a signatory of the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia "and thus the foundation of sectorial cooperation was laid down".
ASEAN proper kicks off in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
* Anadolu Agency correspondent Satuk Bugra Kutlugun contributed to this story from Ankara.
