Aung San Suu Kyi: Terrorists Spread False News About Western Violence in Myanmar

Aung San Suu Kyi, the advisor to the Myanmar government, attributed the spread of "false news" regarding the Rohingya Muslims to "terrorists" in a conversation with the President of Turkey. Previously, Mehmet Simsek, the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, had shared photos on Twitter depicting the "massacre of Rohingya Muslims," which were later found not to be from Myanmar. The Deputy Prime Minister deleted these photos from his Twitter account. According to the German news agency, the Myanmar government, following Aung San Suu Kyi's conversation with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stated in a release quoting Suu Kyi: "This type of fake information that has influenced the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey is just the tip of a large iceberg of misinformation created to cause problems between different communities and to serve the interests of terrorists." Since August of this year, 123,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh. While these refugees speak of violence and brutality from Myanmar soldiers, the army claims that Rohingya Muslims continue to attack their forces and set homes on fire. In her conversation with Erdogan, Suu Kyi also stated: "We know better than anyone what deprivation of human rights and democratic support means." She added: "Therefore, we protect the rights of all people in our country, not just political rights but also social rights and humanitarian support." According to Turkish media reports, Erdogan expressed deep concern over the situation of Rohingya Muslims and called for restraint from the army in this crisis-hit region. On Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is set to lead a delegation to the refugee camps in Bangladesh to provide Turkish aid to the refugees. The Rohingya Muslims are the largest stateless ethnic group in the world. Myanmar does not grant citizenship to this group and discriminatory laws are in place against them in the country. These Muslims generally avoid violent methods against the Myanmar government, but in October this year, a newly formed militia group called the "Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army" carried out a series of operations against Myanmar border forces. As a result, the Myanmar army dispatched many troops to the area. Since then, more than 200,000 people have fled to Bangladesh, with 123,000 of them going there in the past two weeks. Bangladesh had previously hosted 400,000 Rohingya Muslims who had migrated to the country over the past four decades. According to the French news agency, recent violence has also displaced 27,000 Buddhists and Hindus. In recent weeks, Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has faced international criticism for her stance on the Rohingya Muslims. Critics and human rights groups say that although Suu Kyi does not control the army, her popularity could allow her to call for a reduction in violence, yet she defends the army's actions instead. Earlier this year, UN inspectors in their report referred to the violence perpetrated by the army, stating that the term "ethnic cleansing" might apply to these actions. However, Aung San Suu Kyi's government rejected these accusations and subsequently did not issue visas for UN officials involved in preparing this report. Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party holds a majority in parliament and the government is led by her party, could not participate in the presidential election due to the 2008 constitution; however, she was appointed as the "State Counselor," equivalent to a prime ministerial position.