Asia - Pacific

Turkish aid agency delivers food to Rohingya Muslims

State-run agency provides much-needed food during Muslim fasting month of Ramadan

Ali Murat Alhas  | 07.05.2020 - Update : 07.05.2020
Turkish aid agency delivers food to Rohingya Muslims FILE PHOTO

ANKARA 

Turkey’s state-run aid agency distributed 5,000 food packages to needy Rohingya Muslims on Thursday during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) said that group personally distributed the packages.

The agency has also delivered thousands of hygiene materials to Rohingya Muslims during the month-long fast that began April 24.

Persecuted people

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.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report entitled, Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience.

As many as 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes burned down while 113,000 others vandalized, it added.

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