By BURHAN OZBILICI  Mehmet Dursun Uygurturkoglu, 35, an ethnic Chinese Uighur living in Turkey, lies on the ground after setting himself alight and being sprayed with a fire extinguisher, during a protest outside the Chinese embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Aug. 8, 2008. He was among several hundred Uighur demonstrators protesting human rights violations in China just before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici) ANKARA, Turkey — A man doused himself with gasoline and set himself alight during a protest Friday by ethnic Uighurs outside the Chinese Embassy in Turkey. Other demonstrators jumped on the man and quickly extinguished the flames with a blanket, according to an Associated Press photographer who was at the scene. He was also sprayed with a fire extinguisher. The man, identified by the local Uighur association as 35-year-old Mehmet Dursun Uygurturkoglu, was rushed to a hospital where he was being treated for second-degree burns to his head, neck and arms. A doctor at Ankara's Numune hospital said his injuries were not life-threatening. The man was among several hundred Uighur demonstrators protesting human rights violations in China just before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing. The group was chanting anti-China slogans when Uygurturkoglu, his T-shirt doused with gasoline and his back on fire, rushed to the forefront, shouting: "Long live Turkistan!" The Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim minority that has had tense relations with the Chinese, live mainly in the rugged and mineral-rich western region of Xinjiang, China. Many Uighurs favor independence or greater autonomy for Xinjiang province, which takes up one-sixth of China's land mass and borders eight Central Asian countries. Uighurs are related to Turks, and Turkey is home to a Uighur community. |