ISTANBUL,
June 5 (Bernama) –
A Turkish aid group
distributed 2,300 food packages to Rohingya Muslims affected by a tropical
cyclone in Bangladesh, the group said on Thursday, Turkey's Anadolu Agency (AA)
reported.
The food packages,
including rice, oil, chickpeas, flour, salt and sugar, were distributed to
1,300 families hit by Cyclone Mora on Tuesday, said a statement released by the
Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH).
Munevver Huseyin, the
foundation's East Asia coordinator, said that seven people lost their lives in
the tropical storm and more than 50 were injured.
"Most houses
have collapsed and their rooftops were blown away. In the Kutupalong and
Balukhali camps, 10,000 houses have been destroyed, leaving 400,000 people
affected," Huseyin said.
A law passed in
Myanmar in 1982 denied Rohingya -- many of whom have lived in Myanmar for
generations -- citizenship, making them stateless, removing their freedom of
movement, access to education and services, and allowing arbitrary confiscation
of their property.
They have been
fleeing Myanmar in droves since mid-2012, after communal violence broke out in
the Rakhine province between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims.
For years, members
of the minority have been fleeing to bordering countries, including Bangladesh.
Turkey's
Humanitarian Relief Foundation, one of the nation's leading aid groups, sends
humanitarian aid to people suffering around the world, including war-torn-Syria,
drought-hit Somalia, and conflict-torn regions in Myanmar.