Staff Reporter:
Dhaka yesterday underscored the need for the early repatriation of forcibly displaced Rohingyas of My-anmar to their homeland and sought support from Türkiye and the international community to ensure their safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam, MP made the call in a meeting with President of the Turkish Red Crescent Dr. Fatma Meriç Yilmaz at her office in Dhaka yesterday, according to a for-eign ministry press release.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed a range of Bangladesh-Türkiye bilateral issues and reviewed opportunities for enhancing cooperation in different sectors.
Recalling the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to Bangladesh from June 4 to 6 last and his meetings with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and Foreign Minister Dr. Khalilur Rahman, the state minister stressed the importance of further strengthening cooperation between the two friendly countries.
She particularly emphasized closer collaboration in regional and international organizations and under-scored the strong bonds of friendship and partnership between Bangladesh and Türkiye.
Highlighting the Rohingya crisis, Shama said Bangladesh has been hosting more than 1.2 million forci-bly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar since 2017, which has posed significant humanitarian, socio-economic and environmental challenges for the country.
Describing the prolonged displacement as a major burden on Bangladesh, she stressed that the only sus-tainable solution to the crisis lies in the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustained repatriation of the Roh-ingyas to their homeland in Myanmar.
The state minister urged the international community, including Türkiye, to continue extending sincere support and diplomatic efforts to facilitate the early return of the Rohingyas.
The Turkish Red Crescent president highly appreciated Bangladesh’s extraordinary generosity in shelter-ing a large number of Rohingyas and providing humanitarian assistance despite various challenges.
Dr. Yilmaz highlighted the Turkish Red Crescent’s ongoing humanitarian activities for Rohingya refu-gees, including food assistance, education support, primary and emergency healthcare services, sanitation facilities and skills development training programmes.
She reaffirmed her organization’s commitment to continuing humanitarian support for Rohingya popula-tion and acknowledged Bangladesh’s role in addressing one of the world’s largest displacement crises.
The state minister expressed deep appreciation to the visiting Turkish Red Crescent delegation and thanked Türkiye for its continued humanitarian assistance to the Rohingyas over the years.
She noted that Bangladesh highly values Türkiye’s longstanding support for displaced Myanmar nation-als and its contributions toward improving the living conditions of Rohingyas residing in camps in Cox’s Bazar.
The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere, reflecting the growing partnership between Bangladesh and Türkiye on humanitarian and international issues of mutual concern, the release said.
