ANKARA, TURKEY - A Turkish minister called Thursday for a boycott of Chinese goods to protest at events in troubled Xinjiang region.

Prime Minister Recep Tayypi Erdogan said meanwhile that Turkey would grant a visa to exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer if she applied.

'If the country where we consume the good does not respect human values, we should reconsider our values,' Trade and Industry Minister Nihat Ergun said, quoted by Anatolia news agency.

'Consumers who buy a good must find out if the producing country respects human values or not,' Ergun said in the central city of Yozgat when asked by reporters about troubles in the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, in which at least 156 people have been killed.

Turkey has repeatedly expressed concern about events in Turkic-speaking Xinjiang with Prime Minister Erdogan on Wednesday heightening criticism by calling the deaths 'atrocities'.

Turkey says it supports China's sovereignty over Xinjiang but retains strong cultural links with the Muslim Uighurs because of the language. Several exiled Uighurs live in Turkey where they have been supported by nationalist groups.

Erdogan said Turkey would grant a visa to exiled Uighur leader Kadeer, a day after she said she had twice been denied entry.

'I learnt from the foreign ministry that she had previously applied for a visa. If she makes a new application, we will give her a visa,' Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.

Kadeer, president of the World Uighur Congress, told Turkey's NTV news channel that applications for a Turkish visa were denied in 2006 and 2007. Kadeer, 62, who has been living in the United States since March 2005 after being deported by China, is accused by Chinese officials for instigating the unrest in Xinjiang.

Erdogan on Wednesday condemned the Xinjiang violence as an 'atrocity'.