Turkish PM to visit Bangladesh

Turkey’s prime minister will pay a two-day official visit to Dhaka next week at the invitation of his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Ministry Press Center said on Saturday.

The center said in a statement that Binali Yildirim will hold a number of high-level meeting during his visit on Dec. 19-20.

During the visit, the relations between Bangladesh and Turkey, which is based on friendship and brotherhood, is expected to be discussed comprehensively, said the statement, adding that views on regional issues, especially the Rohingya crisis, will also be exchanged.

Yildirim will proceed to Cox’s Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh — an area hosting hundreds of thousands Rohingya refugees who fled a military crackdown in Myanmar — after his official meetings in the capital Dhaka.

Some 650,000 Rohingya have crossed from Myanmar into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, according to UN figures.

Yildirim will visit the camps where the Rohingya Muslims took shelter, observing the refugees’ situation and the humanitarian aid efforts by international groups along with the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), and Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate in the region, said the statement.

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