Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged Turkey to get involved in the process of repatriation of the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar to ensure return to their homeland, bdnews24 reported.
She made the call when visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met her at the Ganabhaban on Wednesday, her Deputy Press Secretary Hasan Jahid Tusher said at a media briefing.
Bangladesh has long been calling on the international community to pile more pressure on Myanmar to take back their displaced Rohingya nationals in a safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation.
Bangladesh has sheltered over 1 million Rohingya Muslims who have fled decades of persecution in Myanmar and a brutal military crackdown in 2017 that triggered the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world.
Myanmar signed an agreement to take back the Rohingya, but the process has not started as the situation in Rakhine State has not improved, while the government of the country continued denying the Rohingya citizenship rights.
In the meeting with Çavuşoğlu, Hasina urged Turkey to invest in Bangladesh. She also thanked Turkey for repairing Bangladesh Navy’s warship Bijoy that was damaged in the devastating blast in Beirut port area.
Hasina reiterated the invitation to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to join the celebrations in 2021 over the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan. Çavuşoğlu said Erdoğan would consider the invitation positively if the pandemic situation improves by the time.