Turkey has accumulated approximately TL 60 million in cash aid for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Arakan province, where Muslims are being subjected to atrocities by radical Buddhists and other fanatical groups.
The latest information comes from the Prime Ministry’s Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD). The organization declared on Friday that a total of TL 21,821,452 has been accumulated in the accountings of AFAD to help the Arakan Muslims. The directorate gave thanks to all contributors for broadening a helping hand to the Rohingya Muslims, who are experiencing hard times due to civil war, ethnic massacre and poverty in Myanmar.
AFAD began its campaign earlier this month with a notice released in the Official Gazette on Aug. 5. All contributions accumulated by governors’ offices, municipalities, nongovernmental organizations and other public institutions are being channelised to AFAD’s bank accounts, created specifically for the aid campaign.
The Turkish Religious Affairs Foundation (TDV) has collected TL 30 million in aid for Myanmar Muslims, while another leading charitable foundation of Turkey, the Kimse Yok Mu Association, which executes its kindly works in 71 countries, collected TL 7 million during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended last week.
Besides cash aid, Turkish associations deliver aid packages to Myanmar. The Deniz Feneri Association handed out 37.5 tons in food packages to people in Arakan during Ramadan. The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) is also delivering boxes of food.
Additionally, the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) has launched a joint campaign with the Skopje-based Legis Association to extend a helping hand to Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Arakan. The organizations unveiled their plans at a press conference held in Skopje, Macedonia, on Friday.
Two weeks ago, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Emine Erdoğan, the Turkish prime minister’s wife, visited Rohingya Muslims staying at the Banduba refugee camp in the Myanmar coastal state of Rakhine. With the exception of the United Nations, this was the first instance of foreign aid being distributed to refugees in need in the region by another nation.
