China hit back on Monday at Turkey's criticism over its treatment of Uighurs and denied Ankara's claim that a renowned poet from the Muslim minority had died in custody.<br />''<br />''<br />''Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, China has made solemn representations towards Turkey on the issue. She called the Turkish statement vile and urged Ankara to withdraw its false accusations.<br />''<br />''<br />''In a statement on Saturday, Turkey's foreign ministry criticised China's mass detentions of its Turkic-speaking Uighurs and claimed that poet Abdurehim Heyit had died serving an eight-year Chinese prison sentence imposed as punishment over one of his songs.<br />''<br />''<br />''But on Sunday, China released a video showing a man who identified himself as Heyit and saying that he was alive and well.<br />''<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">A UN panel of experts has said that nearly one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking minorities had been herded into re-education camps in China's northwestern Xinjiang region, where most of the country's more than 10 million Uighurs live..</span><br />