DAVUTOGLU SAYS ATTACKS ON ETHNIC ROHINGYA MUSLIM MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY

14 April 2013

 

JEDDAH (AA) – Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday said violent acts targeting Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya Muslims were well planned, adding that the incidents risked wider instability in the region.
“Attacks on Muslims [in Myanmar] are highly planned and coordinated and security forces do not stop the incidents,” Davutoglu told a Saudi Arabia meeting of a Myanmar contact group comprised of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Davutoglu said Myanmar’s government must immediately act to fulfill its obligations and move to stop the violent attacks that included torchings, ambushes and deadly assaults in Rakhine state.
“Myanmar’s governmet must show that perpetrators of such kind of incidents cannot go unpunished. Hatred between Muslims and Buddhists must be averted,” he said.
“More than 100 thousand people had to leave their homes and they still did not return. Moreover they are denied of their rights. Just a while ago 44 Muslims lost their lives. Over 1,300 houses and many mosques have been burnt down,” Davutoglu said.
Davutoglu proposed a seven-point plan which included a fresh OIC initiative, a joint letter to Myanmar’s government by presidents of OIC’s member countries that asks Myanmar’s government for assurances for the return of Rohingya Muslims to their homes, and a visit by the OIC contact group to Rakhine.
Davutoglu said Turkey was ready to extend any support to OIC.
OIC head urges Security Council to protect Myanmar’s Muslims
Ihsanoglu calls for international action to stop violence on ethnic Rohingya
Head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Sunday appealed to the UN Security Council to intervene to protect Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims from ethnic violence.
“Security Council must protect rights and lives of Rohingya Muslims,” Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told a foreign ministers’ meeting of member countries in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The meeting brings together top diplomats of Turkey, Afghanistan, UAE, Brunei, Djibouti, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Senegal and Saudi Arabia who will discuss violent attacks including torchings, ambushes and deadly assaults in Rakhine state.
Ihsanoglu also warned against a regional escalation of tensionsv