Turkish lawmaker calls on Muslims to unite for Rohingya

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

A Turkish lawmaker called on the Muslim countries to “unite” to achieve permanent peace for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

In a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Achmad Budiono on Thursday, Sureyya Sadi Bilgic urged the international community to show more sensitivity to the plight of Rohingya Muslims.

"All Muslim countries should be united, and should be on a same page to support the permanent peace," said Bilgic, who is head of the parliament's planning and budget committee.

He added that Turkey and Indonesia should always voice solidarity with the Rohingya Muslims as the democratic countries.

Since Aug. 25, over 646,000 Rohingya have crossed from 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.

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.

Indonesian lawmaker, for his part, said his country wants to improve its cooperation with Turkey on global issues. "We appreciate Turkey's important and efficient role on global issues."

He also appreciated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's stance against the U.S. move to recognize Jerusalem as Israeli capital.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which was established during a historic summit in Rabat, Morocco in 1969 following an arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, issued a declaration on Wednesday recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

The announcement came on Wednesday following the emergency meeting of the bloc in Istanbul called by Erdogan.