(40.45.13) Ankara conference on the issue of Rohingya in Ankara
In order to improve the lives of Rohingya refugees, an international conference in Turkey's capital Ankara has started. Turkey has called for the summit which started Friday on the Rohingya crisis. Representatives from different organizations, including eleven countries including Bangladesh, are taking part in the conference. In the inaugural address, the country's foreign ministry under secretary Umit Yalchin said that despite all efforts, there is a humanitarian crisis in Myanmar's Rakhine and Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar.
An international conference in Ankara started on Rohingya issue
Yalchin reiterated Turkey's gratitude to the government of Bangladesh to tackle the terrible human condition by opening the border in the speech. He said the steps taken there are still not enough.
According to Amnesty International, a UK-based human rights group, in August last year, in the face of the Myanmar military operation in Rakhine, so far seven thousand Rohingya people including women and children have fled. Within a month of the Rakhine army campaign, on August 25, around nine thousand Rohingya have been killed in Doctors Without Border. A recent report by the human rights organization says that 71.7 percent or 6 thousand 700 Rohingyas have been killed in the violence. Of them, there are approximately 730 children under the age of five.
Yalchin said in the speech, "As a responsible member of the international community with the footsteps of humanitarian, we must also increase our efforts in the political field." He said the Rohingyas need to take a comprehensive strategy to solve the political, economic and humanitarian problems.
Apart from the European Union's ambassador to Turkey, Christie Burger, senior officials of the United States, Australia, Bangladesh, Finland, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Qatar, Norway, Thailand and the United Nations are participating in the conference. The representatives of Turkish Health Ministry and other non-profit organizations like Turkey, such as the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), Turkish Red Crescent and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TICA) are also participating.
The UN called the Rohingya as the world's most endangered population. The United Nations has registered a series of crimes including rape, murder, brutal attack, disappearance of security forces, and the crimes committed against the Rohingyas. A UN investigation has said that these crimes may be considered crimes against humanity.