Notes

moro's struggle
Who are the Moro Muslims?
Muslim communities living in the Philippines' Mindanao, Palawan and Sulu archipelago and other southern islands are known as Morolar.
Moros, which make up about 11 percent of the Philippine population, adopted Islam in the 14th century.

4. What is Moro problem?
Moros, who lived in their independent states until the 20th century, lost their independence when it was left to the Christian Philippine administration in 1946 by the US colonial administration. The Moro people then began to use political negotiation to regain their independence.

5. How did the armed struggle begin?
The attacks aimed at the Muslim people in the region turned into ethnic cleaning, which led the Moros to decide on armed struggle by establishing the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the 1970s to protect themselves. More than 120,000 people lost their lives and 2 million people became refugees in Mindonao where 5 million Muslims lived in the conflicts that lasted for more than 40 years between the Philippine state and Moroccan Muslims.

6. How was the ceasefire declared?
The ceasefire talks between the parties started in 1997. With the start of the peace negotiations in 2012, a ceasefire was declared between the government and the MILF. The MILF abandoned its goal of establishing an independent state in Mindanao during the talks mediated by Malaysia. The MILF, which has 12,000 armed members, agreed to establish a new autonomous region called Bangsamoro by 2016 in Mindanao.

10. What will Moros get by agreement?
With the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the legal and economic gains of the Muslims of the region will increase. The establishment of the Bangsamoro government and the Sharia courts, which will independently implement Sharia provisions on religious freedoms in the region, will be opened. Administrative powers in the region will not be left to the national government, but will be transferred to the Bangsamoro government. In addition, the former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and MILF will be able to join law enforcement agencies.