Turkey's fabricating singer's death 'absurd'

China on Monday strongly rejected Turkey's "absurd lie" about the death of a Uygur folk musician, saying the Turkey's claim extremely wrong and irresponsible.

"China has made solemn representations to Turkey and is firmly opposed to its groundless accusations," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular news conference in Beijing.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry criticized the human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and claimed that Abdurehim Heyit, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, had died.