28 September 2017•Update: 28 September 2017
By Dildar Baykan
ANKARA
A representative of the oppressed Rohingya on Wednesday called on the international community to protect the Rohingya Muslim people.
“Turkey is pushing for a coalition of nations to address the issue in the UN, and hopefully, at the Security Council,” Wakar Uddin, head of the Arakan (Rakhine) Rohingya Union, told Anadolu Agency.
“I express my gratitude on behalf of Rohingya people to President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, and the government and people of Turkey for voicing support for Rohingya people,” he said.
He urged multinational UN support to pressure Myanmar’s government to return education, health, infrastructure, and citizenship rights to the Rohingya Muslims.
Myanmar’s government has scaled back its violent crackdown but the military and Buddhist vigilantes are continuing their campaign against the Rohingya, he said.
Wakar Uddin said that the “newest strategy” in Rakhine is the Myanmar police “shooting guns at homes” to scare people off. He said vigilante Buddhists then step in and set their homes on fire.
Turkey has been at the forefront of providing aid to Rohingya refugees, and President Erdogan highlighted the issue at this year's UN General Assembly.
The refugees are fleeing a Myanmar security operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women, and children, looted homes, and torched Rohingya Muslim villages.
More than 480,000 Rohingya have crossed from the northern part of Rakhine state into Bangladesh since the outbreak of fresh violence on Aug. 25, according to the UN migration agency.
According to Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.
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.
