Turkey’s First Lady Emine Erdogan has visited refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh for Rohingya Muslims who have fled a brutal army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
Erdogan, who is accompanied by Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affair Shahriar Alam, visited the Kutupalang camp for registered refugees.
She is also scheduled to visit several other camps as well as the ones accommodating the unregistered refugees across Cox’s Bazar.
Erdogan is expected to call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina later in the day before flying out.
The visit came after the latest bloodshed in Myanmar’s Rakhine State resulted in a fresh influx of Rohingyas into Bangladesh.
The arrivals that started 12 days ago have reached 164,000, the UN says.
The World Food Programme estimates the total numbers can go up to 300,000.
The violence drew global condemnation. UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote “officially” to the president of the Security Council to express his concern. He also appreciated Bangladesh for allowing in Rohingya refugees.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also phoned his Bangladesh counterpart Md Abdul Hamid and supported measures taken by Bangladesh over the Rohingya refugee issue last week.
He expressed concern over the ongoing violence in Rakhine.
Source: bdnews24
