Rohingya Hail Anadolu Agency As 'Voice Of Oppressed'

Rohingya genocide survivors and leaders of the persecuted community across the globe have recalled the Anadolu Agency as the voice of oppressed on the occasion of it 100th founding anniversary.

"Since the beginning of the Rohingya crisis, Anadolu Agency has been playing an important role in the frontline to bring the plights of Rohingya to the world while other new agencies fail to cover," Dr. Hla Kyaw, Chairman of European Rohingya Council, said in a written message on eve of the centenary.

Anadolu Agency was officially launched on April 6, 1920, 17 days before the Turkish Grand National Assembly convened for the first time.

It announced the first legislation passed by the assembly, which established the Republic of Turkey.

As a global news agency, Anadolu Agency is among the 10 most influential media outlets in the world, providing its subscribers in more than 90 countries thousands of news stories, photos, videos, infographics, and other information-based content through its global network of correspondents and photojournalists in 100 countries.

"On behalf of Rohingya and European Rohingya Council, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the team of Anadolu Agency," said Kyaw, who characterized Anadolu Agency coverage of Rohingya plights as extraordinary.

Free Rohingya Coalition Coordinator, Dr. Maung Zarni, urged the agency to play a more effective [role] in educating its global multilingual audiences with bite-sized social media pieces on many issues of importance to the peoples around the world."

"Chinese language platform addition will increase its value to the global readership," he added.

'Anadolu Agency has made Rohingya's unheard voice heard'

The Ankara-based news agency produces news in Turkish, English, Arabic, Russian, French, Spanish, Kurdish/Kurmanji, Kurdish/Sorani, Persian, Indonesian, Bosnian, Albanian and Macedonian.

Zarni said "with its 13-language readerships, Anadolu Agency has been a great media platform for Burma's downtrodden and oppressed communities in general and the Rohingya in particular."

The refugee rights activist praised the professionalism of Anadolu Agency. "I have worked with its reporters and editors. They are compassionate and principled in their works."

Also wishing the agency on its 100th anniversary, Co-Founder of Rohingya Medics Organization, Dr. Anita Schug, said: "Anadolu Agency has made Rohingya's unheard voice heard when others wanted to silence us. It not only reports on Rohingya, it also represents the voices of the voiceless globally.

"Sipping a cup of coffee and reading Anadolu Agency is the perfect day to start with," she said, adding that these 100 years were hard work for people around the world and for humanity.

Terming the agency's coverage on the COVID-19 pandemic and the Rohingya plight as excellent, she added: "The members and journalists we met in Turkey, in Europe or in Bangladesh are very talented people who value true journalism. Thank you for being with us and the world."

Referring to the ongoing genocide in Myanmar and Rohingya struggle for survival, Nay San Lwin, Co-founder of Free Rohingya Coalition, said many different language speaking people were informed about Myanmar's genocide of Rohingya by Anadolu Agency's reporting. "We appreciate [it] and pray for long live [for Anadolu Agency]."

Expressing gratefulness to Anadolu Agency Khin Maung, Executive Director of Rohingya Youth Association, said: "We victims never forget for your help, publishing our history to the world and without your assistant we could never show our sufferings to the world."

The Rohingya genocide survivor also thanked the Turkish government. "I would like to thank Turkish government, who is the father of humanity to world in 21 Century. You are standing for victims with the best efforts of you."

Persecuted people

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar's state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report titled Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience.

As many as 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar's army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes burned down while 113,000 others vandalized, it added. -