Bangladesh, Turkey share 'same views' on Rohingya solutions

Bangladesh and Turkey have “identical views” on resolving the crisis of the Myanmar’s Rohingya population, half a million of whom took shelter in Bangladesh recently.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, who is in Istanbul to attend the D-8 summit, held a bilateral meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday.

They discussed the latest crisis and humanitarian disaster surrounding the forcefully displaced Myanmar nationals, the foreign ministry said.

“They expressed identical views on the ways of bringing a lasting solution which is sustainable return and repatriation of the displaced and dispossessed community to their original abodes in homeland Rakhine with rights including Myanmar citizenship and fundamental freedoms.”

Both of them discussed ways of addressing the problem from both political and humanitarian perspectives.

The Turkish minister appreciated the leadership role of the government of Bangladesh in this crisis.

They also discussed content and possible sectors in which Turkish humanitarian assistance could be delivered to the Rohingyas.

The state minister held separate meetings with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, and Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman.

He took part in the D-8 Council of Ministers on Thursday held prior to the 9th D-8 Summit on Friday.

D-8 or Developing-8 is an organisation for development co-operation among Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey.