Turkish aid agency opens new park for Rohingya children in Bangladesh
Rohingya children play at a park inaugurated by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Jan. 19, 2023. (AA Photo)


Türkiye's leading development and aid agency inaugurated Thursday another park for children at the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh’s southern border district of Cox’s Bazar.

The park opened by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) will serve as a source of recreation for Rohingya children, according to the agency.

The Turkish envoy in Dhaka, Mustafa Osman Turan, opened the park while Sevki Mert Baris, TIKA coordinator in Bangladesh, attended the inaugural ceremony at Rohingya refugee camp No. 5, according to TIKA’s Dhaka office.

TIKA has already established a playground for children at the Rohingya camp No. 16.

More than 1.2 million persecuted Rohingya refugees have been living in 33 congested makeshift camps in Bangladesh. Most fled a brutal military crackdown in their home country of Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017.

According to the U.N. and other official records, over 500,000 of the Rohingya in the world’s largest refugee settlements in Bangladesh are children who need better education and living facilities. Such parks will help the Rohingya children grow up in a healthy environment, said TIKA.

TIKA was founded in 1992 and currently, the organization has offices in 60 different countries across the world. TIKA opened an office in Bangladesh in 2014 and has carried out hundreds of projects, including dozens of facilitation programs in Rohingya refugee camps.