The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan equates the dilemma of Muslim Uighurs in China's northwest province of Xinjiang to 'genocide'.

"The incidents in China are, simply put, a genocide. There's no point in interpreting this otherwise," Erdogan said on Friday.

At least 184 people have lost their lives and more than 1,000 others have sustained wounds in Xinjiang over the past week. The unrest is the worst ethnic violence in China in decades. Meanwhile, resentment has boiled over among Muslims across the globe over the degrading treatment of Uighurs by the communist state.

Despite China's booming economy -- which has brought prosperity and generated more jobs in the mainland -- the Turkic-speaking Muslim minority of Uighurs have long been marginalized and repressed.

"We have difficulty understanding how China's leadership ... can remain a spectator in the face of these events," the Turkish Premier complained.

Prior to his genocide remarks, Erdogan had stated that he would call upon the UN Security Council to find solutions to the ethnic clashes in China's Xinjiang province.

The Turkish media have also stated that Uighurs should get the same sympathy shown to the impoverished Palestinians in the coastal sliver of Gaza.