Turkish charity provides aid to 350,000 Rohingya

By Murat Paksoy

ISTANBUL (AA) - A Turkish charity has so far provided relief supplies to 350,000 Rohingya Muslims since the crisis began in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on Aug. 25.

Since Aug. 25, 603,000 Rohingya have crossed from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine into Bangladesh, according to the UN.

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.

Aid -- including food, clean water, hygiene supplies, tents, kitchenware and clothing -- was distributed to needy Rohingya people, who stay in camps both in Myanmar and Bangladesh, said Munevver Huseyin, Humanitarian Relief Foundation’s (IHH) South Asia coordinator.

IHH, one of Turkey’s leading aid groups, sends humanitarian aid to suffering people around the world, including war-torn-Syria, drought-hit Somalia, and Myanmar.

“We’ve sent aid to camps in [Bangladesh's] Cox's Bazar, IDP camps in Sittwe [provincial capital of Rakhine state], Maungdaw and Buthidaung towns [in western Myanmar],” Huseyin said in a statement.

“As IHH, we will not leave Rohingya people alone until the crisis comes to an end,” she said.

Turkish agency IHH also set up three health centers – two in Bangladesh and one in Myanmar -- and opened 50 toilets.

The agency also built bamboo-made temporary shelters for 450 families and opened 130 water wells.

The United Nations has accused Myanmar of allowing its security forces to engage in ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims.

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 has 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.