Turkish charity to build shelter for 20,000 Rohingya

By Ali Ebubekir Tokcan

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh

A Turkish charity will provide tents to 20,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who have fled violence in Myanmar, it said Thursday.

Bayram Numan Koksal, coordinator for Cansuyu Organization, told Anadolu Agency they will put up the tents on land allocated to them by Bangladeshi authorities.

Each tent will include a bathroom, he said.

A mosque and education and health center will also be constructed for the refugees, he added.

A team from the aid group has inspected the construction site and met representatives of local charity groups.

501,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed from Myanmar’s western Rakhine state into Bangladesh since the outbreak of fresh violence on Aug. 25, according to the UNHCR.

The refugees are fleeing a fresh security 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.