World must react to crimes against humanity: Turkish PM

By Enes Kaplan and Mumin Altas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday that the international community needs to do more in the face of crimes against humanity.

“The United Nations in the first place and the international community need to take full responsibility to be more sensitive and take a clear stance on crimes against humanity in North Korea, Arakan [Myanmar’s Rakhine state], and other regions," Binali Yildirim told reporters at the Supreme Court of Appeals in the capital Ankara, where he attended a judicial year opening day ceremony.

According to the UN on Tuesday, 123,600 Rohingya Muslims have crossed from Myanmar into Bangladesh, as tens of thousands more have been internally displaced by recent violence. A crackdown on the Rohingya since last October has included mass gang rapes, killings -- including infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances.

Asked about Turkey's reaction to recent news from North Korea, Yildirim said that Turkey is as worried as the world about the current developments.

"In no way should the world's future be left to some crazy movements and actions," he said.

North Korea claimed to have detonated a new hydrogen bomb on Sunday, one Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency later said could be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM.

On reports that Yildirim will meet U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Yildirim said both sides are working on a "technical level" to meet “whenever our plans coincide with each other”.