Many will remember the photo on top of 16-month-old Mohammed Shohayet, a Rohingya refugee who drowned with his mother, uncle, & 3-year-old brother last December when their boat capsized in the Naf river as they fled from genocide in Arakan state. He was called the Rohingya Aylan Kurdi after the Syrian child who drowned in September 2015 crossing from Turkey to Greece.

The child in the bottom photo is not identified by name but only as a Rohingya child who drowned in the Naf river a few days ago when the boat she was in capsized. Yeni Şafak, the conservative Turkish media source that reported her death, did not mention if her family survived the capsize but they were also fleeing genocide in Arakan state.

It’s likely Yeni Şafak reported this incident because of Erdogan’s feigned support for the Rohingya people which, like his support for Palestinians, often falls short in the execution, becoming all hot air & little action. When thousands of Rohingya refugees were fleeing in rickety boats in May 2015, Erdogan talked of sending Turkish navy ships to rescue them but never managed to give the order. The fate of thousands of Rohingya has never been investigated by any agency.

These are very tragic images not used to exploit the suffering of children but to expose the character of the genocide against the Rohingya people.

Stop the genocide in Arakan state. Full human, democratic, civil, & refugee rights to Rohingya Muslims.