By Satuk Bugra Kutlugun
ANKARA
A group representing Rohingya in Europe says that migrants detained by Turkish authorities attempting to get to the European Union this weekend are not the Rohingya they claim to be, but instead Bangladeshis posing as the persecuted Muslim ethnic group in an effort to gain refugee status.
Mohammad Hussain Abdullah, the European Rohingya Council's (ERC) member for Germany, told Anadolu Agency in an email that the ERC is confident that it knows the their true identity.
"According to my information, [they are] Bangladeshi economic migrants [who] have arrived/entered Turkey via Iran by illegal way or by human traffickers," he says.
"They try to get the benefits of a neighboring country and misuse the name of Rohingya in Turkey and in the EU countries for the purpose of asylum."
Phones rang unanswered at the Bangladesh Embassy and the Myanmar honorary consulate in Ankara on Wednesday when an Anadolu Agency correspondent called to seek clarification.
A Turkish official has confirmed that the group was among more than 350 people picked up at sea by the coastguard over the weekend as they attempted to travel to the Greek island of Lesbos and Europe.
"Most of them are from Myanmar, some of them are from Afghanistan and Pakistan and a few of them are from Syria," he said.
The governor -- who did not wish to be named as he was not authorized to speak to media -- told Anadolu Agency that the migrants are presently being housed in Izmir province on Turkey's western Aegean coast.
Local media, meanwhile, have said that the men have suggested they are Rohingya Muslims, one even going so far as to beg for salvation for him and his group, claiming they face an "orchestrated" massacre back in Myanmar.
Rohingya -- whom the United Nations consider to be one of the world’s most persecuted ethnic minorities -- have been fleeing Myanmar's Rakhine State in droves since 2012, in fear of violence that some human rights groups consider to be state sponsored.
In 2015, thousands were stranded at sea with migrants from Bangladesh after Thailand cracked down on human trafficking networks operating on its border.
The subsequent crisis saw Malaysia and Indonesia take in many of the boat people, separating Rohingya -- who they classified as refugees -- from Bangladeshis, who they saw as economic migrants.
The Rohingya were given shelter for a year -- on the understanding that they are then resettled by other countries worldwide -- while the Bangladeshis were repatriated.
Council Gen. Sec Mohamed Ibrahim says that every year the ERC has to deal with people in distress claiming to be from the persecuted ethnic minority.
"But they are not from Arakan [Rakhine]," he tells Anadolu Agency. "They cannot speak our language fluently or explain their background, even names."
Ibrahim says that with European governments recognizing Rohingya as refugees, they cannot be repatriated due to the United Nations human rights agency's statute.
"That’s why if they say they are from Bangladesh or any other countries and they don’t have reason enough to flee, they would be deported from that country. [Meanwhile] if they claim that they are Burmese [Myanmar] nationals, the governments don’t send them back or deport them."
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees statute defines who is a refugee, their rights and the legal obligations of states, under which Rohingya -- recognized as a persecuted minority -- are covered, but Bangladeshi are not.
"We have many cases where people claim that they are from Rohingya, but have no documentation, so embassies refuse to recognize them as citizens of the country," says Ibrahim, adding that they are then given "stateless" identity and shelter.
"In Norway and Sweden we have Rohingya interpreters, but not in Germany and France. So, there are many fake asylum seekers in these countries because there are no Rohingya language translators."
Ibrahim says that on arriving in Germany -- where he now lives -- seven years ago, he applied for asylum as a "Rohingya" and now has a German passport.
"I saw Bangladeshi people claiming they are Rohingya. We lived together in tents. But they cannot speak the language and don’t know anything. But they also got asylum, because there is no proper checking," he says.
Ibrahim highlights, however, that there are some people deserved of refugee status who he has had to turn away.
"Last month we [the ERC] talked on the phone with someone who is crying. We asked him why he was crying and he gave us information that was totally wrong," he says.
"In the end he admitted 'I am from Bangladesh, please help us, we are all Muslim'."
Ibrahim says he had to say "no", as there was no way to support his asylum claim.
