28 March 2018•Update: 28 March 2018
ANKARA
Turkey's Diyanet Foundation, or TDV -- a charity with the country's Religious Affairs Directorate -- has donated humanitarian aid worth nearly $1 million to Rohingya Muslims since August 25, when the Myanmar military started a brutal campaign, according to TDV.
The aid included food parcels, personal care products, clothing and tents delivered in 17 different shelters in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar.
The charity also funded the opening of ten water wells, the construction of 5 small mosques, an education center, and 5 bridges in the refugee camp that sits atop a hill, and it provided 15 portable lavatories and eight shower cabins.
TDV has delivered humanitarian aid worth $3.7 million to Rohingya Muslims since crisis began 2012.
The foundation is also sponsoring 4,134 Rohingya students studying at schools in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Malaysia. TDV also supports 11 Rohingya students in Turkey.
Since Aug. 25, over 656,000 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.
According to Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.
Turkey has been at the forefront of providing aid to Rohingya refugees and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has raised the issue at the UN.
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.
Last October, following attacks on border posts in Rakhine's Maungdaw district, security forces launched a five-month crackdown in which, according to Rohingya groups, around 400 people were killed.
The UN 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.
Reporting by Dildar Baykan; Writing by Sadik Kedir Abdu
