Turkey plays a pivotal role in world politics, thanks to its geopolitical position at the intersection of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. While Turkey's tumultuous relations with the US and EU have been creating an unpredictable context, the country has been deepening its ties with China. Chinese-Turkish relations have been growing exponentially since 2017 when Turkey moved to an executive presidential system from a parliamentary democracy and faced a severe economic crisis. As China expands its investment globally, it has become Turkey's primary import and third-largest trading partner. What complicates Turkey-China relations, however, is the fact that Turkey host one of the largest diaspora of Uighurs, an ethnic Turkish Muslim community from Xinjiang, China's most significant natural gas-producing region. Turkey's ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has assumed a preeminent role in providing humanitarian aid to many Muslim communities outside Turkey. Positioned themselves as the protectors of Muslim communities around the world, the AKP and President Erdogan have been vocal critics of the Communist Party's approach to Uighurs. However, the AKP is also under pressure to further its relations with China in order to alleviate the outcomes of Turkey's ongoing economic crisis and decreasing Western investments. Several bilateral agreements frame and facilitate the growing economic ties and cooperation in other areas such as security and education. As a result, the recent drastic expansions in Turkey's relations with China offer a significant case to probe into whether, and in what ways expanding economic relations between authoritarian regimes with contradictory domestic interests can reinforce authoritarianism or help facilitate internal democratic processes. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the recent expanding relations between China and Turkey. It examines, given that China's policies vis a vis its ethnic Muslim populations are discriminatory and repressive, how does Turkey's ruling AKP address the issue of Uyghur Turks given its claim to defend the rights of Muslims globally and expand its relations with China at the same time? Do the ties with China reinforce authoritarianism in Turkey or do they undermine the regime by displaying its weaknesses? The arguments of this paper draw from review of bilateral agreements and projects, and interviews with specialists working in China owned sectors in Turkey, content analysis of newspapers such as Global Times and Sabah that capture views of both sides, and a set of interviews with people who are involved in Chinese enterprises in Turkey.