Turkish aid agency sends food aid to Rohingya Muslims

By Hanife Sevinc
ISTANBUL (AA) – A Turkish aid group distributed 2,300 food packages to Rohingya Muslims affected by a tropical cyclone in Bangladesh, the group said on Thursday.
The food packages, including rice, oil, chickpeas, flour, salt and sugar, were distributed to 1,300 families hit by Cyclone Mora on Tuesday, said a statement released by the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH).
Munevver Huseyin, the foundation’s East Asia coordinator, said that seven people lost their lives in the tropical storm and more than 50 were injured.
"Most houses have collapsed and their rooftops were blown away. In the Kutupalong and Balukhali camps, 10,000 houses have been destroyed, leaving 400,000 people affected," Huseyin said.
A law passed in Myanmar in 1982 denied Rohingya -- many of whom have lived in Myanmar for generations -- citizenship, making them stateless, removing their freedom of movement, access to education and services, and allowing arbitrary confiscation of their property.
They have been fleeing Myanmar in droves since mid-2012, after communal violence broke out in the Rakhine province between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims.
For years, members of the minority have been fleeing to bordering countries, including Bangladesh.
Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation, one of the nation's leading aid groups, sends humanitarian aid to suffering people around the world, including war-torn-Syria, drought-hit Somalia, and conflict-torn regions in Myanmar.