Emine Erdogan, wife of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said that Turkey stands with Bangladesh in opposing the repression of Rohingyas. Turkey's First Lady said this after visiting Rohingya refugee camps at Kutupalong in Cox’s Bazar yesterday (Thursday). She also said that Turkey has always supported Bangladesh on this issue.

“We have come to stand beside Bangladesh and express our solidarity with Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar in the wake of the recent crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state. We want to draw the attention of the international community to the issue,” said Emine Erdogan.

What is happening in Myanmar's Rakhine State is "tantamount to genocide" and solution to Rohingya crisis lies in Myanmar only, she said.

“We understand the burden and problems of having refugees, as many refugees have taken shelter in our country. We once again call upon Myanmar to stop the violence and recognise Rohingyas as citizens,” she added.

Erdogan, accompanied by the Bangladesh state minister for foreign affairs, Shahriar Alam, visited the Kutupalang camp for registered refugees.

Earlier, around 12 noon, they landed at Cox’s Bazar in a special aircraft. At around 1:20pm, they reached the Kutupalong camp.

After holding a meeting with different aid agencies in Cox’s Bazar as well as the local administration, she spoke to about 10 newly arrived Rohingyas. The Rohingyas gave an account of the mass killings in Rakhine State by the Myanmarese security forces.

She then visited registered Rohingya camps and unregistered Rohingya camps, where over 70,000 newly arrived Rohingyas have taken  shelter.

When the Rohingyas were narrating their sufferings at the hands of the Myanamrsee military, many women and children burst into tears. The Turkish First Lady consoled them. She also distributed relief materials to the Rohingyas at the Kutupalong camp.

The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut, said the Rohingya issue would be raised at the next session of the United Nations General Assembly. “We’ve held talks with the Myanmarese government and Aung San Suu Kyi, but they denied Rohingyas were being tortured. However, the real picture is different. To mount pressure on Myanmar to stop the ongoing violence, we’ll raise the issue before the UN Assembly. We’re also contacting leaders of other Muslim countries,” he added.

“President Tayyip Erdogan is concerned about the Rohingya crisis. He spoke to the Myanmarese leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. However, she denied the violence on Rohingya Muslims,” he said.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said yesterday that 164,000 Rohingyas have entered  Bangladesh since August 25. The influx continues and the number keeps increasing with each passing day. Because of the huge influx, aid agencies are  facing problems in providing support to the Rohingyas. Turkey will provide 1,000 tonnes of relief, including food and medicines, for Rohingyas. 11 bodies found floating in Naf river

The police yesterday fished out 11 more bodies from the Naf river. Two boats carrying Rohingyas capsized at separate places of the river. The two boats, each carrying about 20 Rohingyas, capsized in the Tulatali and Shahparir Dwip areas of Teknaf upazila between 4:00am and 5:30am, said Main Uddin, officer-in-charge (OC) of Teknaf police station. “We found the body of an 18-month-old baby floating in the Shamlapur area, while 10 bodies of Rohingyas were recovered from coastal areas, stretching from Shahparir Dwip to Baharchhara union of Teknaf upazila,” he added.