02:21 PM, September 02, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:44 PM, September 02, 2017
Erdoğan accuses Myanmar of ‘genocide’ as thousands of Rohingya flee to Bangladesh
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled violence in Myanmar in recent days, crossing into neighbouring Bangladesh which already hosts 400,000 of the ethnic minority. Photo: AFP
AFP, Ankara
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Myanmar of "genocide" against the Rohingya Muslim minority, who have fled in the tens of thousands across the border into Bangladesh to escape ethnic violence.
"There is a genocide there," Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul during the Islamic Eid al-Adha feast, which commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.
"Those who close their eyes to this genocide perpetuated under the cover of democracy are its collaborators".
Around 400 people -- most of them Rohingya Muslims -- have died in violence searing through Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine state, the army chief's office said Friday.
Reports of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces -- as well as by militants -- have further amplified tensions, raising fears that communal violence in Rakhine is spinning out of control.
To escape the violence, about 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, barred from entering the South Asian country, while scores of desperate people have drowned attempting to cross the Naf, a border river, in makeshift boats.
Erdogan said he would bring up the issue at the next UN General Assembly in New York later this month, adding that he had already talked to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other Muslim leaders.
According to the state-run Anadolu news agency, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Bangladeshi authorities to "open your doors," adding that the country would cover the costs associated with letting in more Rohingya.
Bangladesh already hosts 400,000 Rohingya and does not want more.
"We have called upon the Organization of Islamic Cooperation," Cavusoglu said. "We will organise a summit this year" on the issue. "We have to find a definitive solution to this problem".
The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss the violence, but there was no formal statement on the crisis.
On Friday, Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" by the situation in Myanmar and called for "restraint and calm to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe".
The Rohingya are reviled in Myanmar, where the roughly one million-strong community are accused of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
http://www.thedailystar.net/world/a...ses-myanmar-genocide-against-rohingya-1457263
Turkey to Bangladesh: Open your doors to Rohingya Muslims, we’ll cover all expenses
SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
BY
IKNOWBRO
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has called on Bangladesh to open its doors to Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state.
Speaking at a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Eid al-Adha celebration event in the Mediterranean province of Antalya on Friday, Çavuşoğlu reiterated Turkey’s call to Bangladesh to open its doors to Rohingya people, and said that Turkey would pay all the expenses.
“We have also mobilized the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. We will hold a summit regarding the Rakhine state this year. We need to find a decisive and permanent solution to this problem,” the minister added.
He said that no other Muslim country other than Turkey is showing sensitivity towards the massacres happening in Myanmar.
In terms of humanitarian aid in the world, Turkey ranks 2nd after the United States with $6 billion and $6.3 billion respectively, Çavuşoğlu added.
Çavuşoğlu’s comments and offer comes as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is holding numerous phone calls with Muslim leaders all over the world to call for intensified efforts to solve the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. Erdoğan has so far spoken with the heads of states of 13 countries on the occasion of Eid al-Adha and to convey his concerns about the situation in Rakhine.
Çavuşoğlu also reportedly spoke on the phone with former U.N. Secretary General and head of Advisory Commission on Rakhine State Kofi Annan.
Violence erupted in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on Aug. 25 when the country’s security forces launched an operation against the Rohingya Muslim community. It triggered a fresh influx of refugees towards neighboring Bangladesh, though the country sealed off its border to refugees.
Media reports said Myanmar security forces used disproportionate force, displacing thousands of Rohingya villagers and destroying their homes with mortars and machine guns.
The region has seen simmering tension between its Buddhist and Muslim populations since communal violence broke out in 2012.
A security crackdown launched last October in Maungdaw, where Rohingya make up the majority, led to a U.N. report on human rights violations by security forces that indicated crimes against humanity.
The U.N. documented mass gang-rape, killings — including infants and young children — brutal beatings, and disappearances. Rohingya representatives have said approximately 400 people have been slain during the crackdown.
Source:
Daily Sabah
Related Articles: Nearly 3,000 Rohingya Muslims killed in the last three days
http://iknowbro.com/love/turkey-to-...s-to-rohingya-muslims-well-cover-all-expenses
Myanmar conflict: Bangladesh police allow Rohingya to fleepics
Image copyright REUTERS
Rohingya refugees walk on the muddy road after travelling over the Bangladesh-Myanmar border
Police in Bangladesh are ignoring government orders to prevent people fleeing violence in neighbouring Myanmar from crossing the border.
A BBC correspondent in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, says members of Myanmar's minority Rohingya Muslim community are streaming through crossings, without being stopped.
The UN now estimates that 58,000 refugees have made it across.
Violence erupted in Myanmar's Rakhine state just over a week ago.
Refugees accuse the Myanmar security forces and Buddhist mobs of burning their villages.
The Myanmar government says their security forces are responding to an attack last month on more than 20 police posts by Rohingya militants.
Subsequent clashes have sent civilians from all communities fleeing.
What sparked latest violence in Rakhine?
How fake photos fuel the conflict violence
Who will help Myanmar's Rohingya?
Another 20,000 Rohingya are thought to be stuck along the Naf river, which forms the border.
Aid agencies say they are at risk from drowning, disease and venomous snakes.
Campaigning group Human Rights Watch has released new satellite imagery from Myanmar which they say shows that more than 700 homes have been burned down in one Rohingya village.
Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch's deputy Asia director, told the BBC: "As far as we can tell the destruction took place on the 25th [August] in the morning, and it appears to have been complete and total. Approximately 99% of the buildings are destroyed in that village."
Image copyright HRW
Image captionHuman Rights Watch released this image, marking buildings they say have burned down
Rakhine, the poorest region in Myanmar, is home to more than a million Rohingya. They have faced decades of persecution in the Buddhist-majority country, where they are not considered citizens.
There have been waves of deadly violence in recent years. The current upsurge is the most significant since October 2016, when nine policemen died in attacks on border posts.
Until then there had been no indication of an armed insurgency, despite the ethnic tensions.
Both the attacks in October and on 25 August were carried out by a group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa).
It says its aim is to protect Muslim Rohingya from state repression in Myanmar. The government says it is a terrorist group.
The military also carried out a crackdown after the attacks in October that led to widespread allegations of rape, murder and torture. Tens of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh then.
The UN is now carrying out a formal investigation, although the Burmese military denies wrongdoing.
Media caption Rohingya exodus: 'They shot dead my husband'
