KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh — Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi blamed fake news and a misinformation campaign for fueling a crisis that the U.N. says has now pushed more than 125,000 minority Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh with tales of atrocities at the hands of security forces.
Suu Kyi told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call Tuesday that her government is defending “all the people” in western Rakhine state, according to a government statement. The violence and civilian suffering have prompted international condemnation and resonated particularly in many Muslim countries.
Erdogan’s office in Ankara said that the Turkish leader told Suu Kyi that disproportionate use of force against the minority group should be avoided and maximum care taken to avoid harming civilians.
Suu Kyi’s office said that she told Erdogan that his deputy prime minister was a victim of fake news when he posted photos purportedly showing dead Rohingya that were not related to the crisis. The photos on Mehmet Simsek’s Twitter account had been taken down.
Suu Kyi said that such misinformation helps promote the interests of “terrorists,” a reference to Rohingya insurgents whose deadly attacks on Myanmar security posts Aug. 25 triggered the latest military crackdown and streams of refugees.
The military has said nearly 400 people, most of them insurgents, have died in clashes. Security forces responded to the attacks with days of “clearance operations” the government says were aimed at rooting out insurgents it accuses of setting fire to Rohingya villages.