Turkey to send 1,000 tons aid to Rohingya Muslims

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Turkey to send 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Rohingya Muslims in the foreign first aid delivery permitted in the region

Following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s discussion on Tuesday regarding the Rohingya crisis, Turkey has been permitted to send 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the region.

The aid will not be limited to food and clothing, but will also include medicine and health products sent intermittently. Erdoğan told Myanmar’s de facto leader that the escalated attacks on Rohingya had caused “deep concern” in the international community, particularly among Muslim countries.

They also discussed options for delivering humanitarian aid and resolving the crisis. Erdoğan condemned both terrorism and the use of disproportionate force. The president pledged Turkey’s support to end the violence.

FIRST FOREIGN AID TO REACH THE REGION

Presidential aide İbrahim Kalın said that Turkish aid agency TİKA would enter the region to deliver the aid.

“Following the discussion our president held with his Myanmar counterpart, Myanmar has permitted TİKA as the first foreign aid agency to enter the region. Inıtially, 1,000 tons of aid will be sent,” Kalın said.

Military helicopters will transport the aid in coordination with Myanmar’s Rakhine State government.

Myanmar had blocked all United Nations aid agencies from delivering food, water and medicine to Rohingya Muslims.

Fresh security operations in the northern part of Rakhine State have triggered waves of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh, which has now sealed its eastern border.

Refugees have described soldiers and Buddhist mobs torching their villages and killing civilians in a bid to force them out. Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya Muslims, having deprived them of citizenship and branded as “stateless.”

According to the UN on Tuesday, 125,000 Rohingya had crossed into Bangladesh since the crackdown began on Aug. 25.

FM ÇAVUŞOĞLU TO VISIT BANGLADESH

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will travel to Bangladesh’s Dhaka on Wednesday to speak with Rohingya refugees. He is due to visit a camp in Cox’s Bazar, a port near the border, and meet Bangladeshi officials.