Turkish aid agency helps Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh

Turkey's state-run aid agency has provided winter aid to Rohingya Muslims who have crossed into Bangladesh to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

According to a statement from the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), Muslims in the country's Cox's Bazar district were provided with 10,000 blankets from TIKA's distribution points.

So far, more than 1 million people have benefited from hot food distributed by TIKA since September, the agency said.

Turkey has been at the forefront of providing aid to Rohingya refugees. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has even raised the issue at the UN.

Since Aug. 25, an estimated 613,000 Rohingya have crossed from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine into Bangladesh, according to the UN.

The refugees are fleeing a military operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes and torched Rohingya villages. According to Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.

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.

The UN documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings and disappearances committed by security personnel.

In a recent report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.