Turkey will send 1,000 tons of aid to Rohingya Muslims

ANKARA

AP photo

Turkey has said Myanmar will allow it to deliver 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Rohingya Muslims, after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the phone over the ongoing tragedy that has affected tens of thousands of civilians in southern Myanmar. 

In a written statement, President Erdoğan’s spokesman İbrahim Kalın stated that Myanmar had provided necessary permission for the access of personnel from the Turkish Coordination and Cooperation Agency (TİKA) to the region.  

Kalın said this aid is planned to be sent to the Maungtaw and Buthi Taung regions of Myanmar with the coordination of the Rakhine State Government. The first aid to Rohingyans will consist of emergency kits, rice, dried fish products, and clothing. 

The aid will be sent to the region through military helicopters starting from Sept. 6, Kalın stated, adding that Turkey will also send humanitarian aid to Rohingyans being sheltered in camps in Bangladesh.

The aid will be distributed during Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s visit to the camps on Sept. 7 and 8, he said. 

The presidential spokesman also said Turkey’s aid will “address the immediate needs of around 100,000 families of Rohingyan Muslims.”

Erdoğan had told Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a phone conversation that the ongoing attacks against the Rohingya can turn into a serious humanitarian crisis, expressing deep concerns and outrage on the ongoing incidents in the region and calling on the government to show utmost sensitivity and caution not to harm civilians. 

He said the rise in human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims created deep concerns in the world, particularly among Muslim countries, and that Turkey condemned both terror attacks and military operations targeting civilians, the Turkish presidency informed the media on Sept. 5. 

The sources said Erdoğan stressed that the utmost attention and sensitivity should be shown to protect civilians. 

They said Turkey was supporting all efforts to resolve the ongoing problem in Myanmar and discussed with Suu Kyi on how humanitarian assistance could be delivered to the Rohingya. 


Turkish FM to travel to Dhaka

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will visit Bangladesh on Sept. 6 amid the ongoing tragedy of tens of thousands Rohingya Muslims forced to flee the violence in Myanmar. Çavuşoğlu will visit camps where fleeing Rohingya are being sheltered in Bangladeshi territories. 

Çavuşoğlu spoke with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali, over the phone late Sept. 4 in a bid to find a solution to the ongoing tragedy of tens of thousands Rohingya escaping the bloodshed. 

Çavuşoğlu’s talk with Ali came as part of Turkey’s week-long efforts to find a safe haven for fleeing Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh, with the Turkish government offering to provide financial assistance to the Bangladeshi government. The two ministers discussed the situation of the Rohingya Muslims, as around 100,000 of them have crossed into Bangladesh.

Erdoğan had launched a massive diplomatic campaign to draw attention to the continued violence on the Rohingya Muslims. He held phone conversations with more than 20 world leaders so far, including U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.