Bangladesh: Over 6,000 Rohingya to receive food aid

By Adem Salvarcioglu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) said on Friday some 6,150 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh would receive food aid.

In a statement, the agency said food packages, containing cooking oil, rice and lentils, will be distributed on behalf of the Bosnian Islamic Union.

The Sarajevo-based aid group signed an agreement with TIKA two months ago, pledging to support Rohingya refugees with €250,000 ($308,000) in aid.

The Bosnian agency has also donated two ambulances to a Turkish field hospital in the refugee camp, the statement added.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, more than 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.

The refugees are fleeing a military operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes, and torched Rohingya villages.

At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24 last year, according to Doctors Without Borders.

In a report published on Dec. 12, 2017 the humanitarian group said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of five.

Turkey has been at the forefront of providing aid to Rohingya refugees, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has raised the issue at the UN.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

The UN documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel.

In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.