O’Connell Street has welcomed Ireland’s first Uyghur restaurant

It's been a year of firsts for Dublin hospitality.

Uyghurs are Turkic-speaking people of interior Asia, according to Britannica; mostly, they live in northwestern China, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

According to BBC News, Uyghurs are the largest minority ethnic group in China's north-western province of Xinjiang. Both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have accused China of crimes against humanity, believing they have detained over a million Uyghurs in the last few years in what China has called "re-education camps".

Uyghur activists say they fear that the group's culture is under threat of erasure which only makes it all the more critical for the ethnic group to have outlets for their food and ways of life.

Header images via Instagram / Afanti Dublin

READ ON:

5 markets to check out in Dublin this June

Mad Coffee to open a new drive-thru spot in Tallaght this weekend

Shaka Poké say aloha to new premises on Baggot Street