Turkey will send 1,000 tons of aid to Rohingya Muslims

Turkey has said Myanmar will allow it to deliver 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Rohingya Muslims, after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the phone over the ongoing tragedy that has affected tens of thousands of civilians in southern Myanmar. 

In a written statement, President Erdoğan's spokesman İbrahim Kalın stated that Myanmar had provided necessary permission for the access of personnel from the Turkish Coordination and Cooperation Agency (TİKA) to the region.  

Kalın said this aid is planned to be sent to the Maungtaw and Buthi Taung regions of Myanmar with the coordination of the Rakhine State Government. The first aid to Rohingyans will consist of emergency kits, rice, dried fish products, and clothing. 

The aid will be sent to the region through military helicopters starting from Sept. 6, Kalın stated, adding that Turkey will also send humanitarian aid to Rohingyans being sheltered in camps in Bangladesh.

The aid will be distributed during Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu's visit to the camps on Sept. 7 and 8, he said. 

The presidential spokesman also said Turkey's aid will "address the immediate needs of around 100,000 families of Rohingyan Muslims."

Erdoğan had told Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a phone conversation that the ongoing attacks against the Rohingya can turn into a serious humanitarian crisis, expressing deep concerns and outrage on the ongoing incidents in the region and calling on the government to show utmost sensitivity and caution not to harm civilians. 

He said the rise in human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims created deep concerns in the world, particularly among Muslim countries, and that Turkey condemned both...