Addressing the august gathering, the Ambassador of Turkey to The Gambia, His Excellency, Mr Ergin Soner said: “Today, the Turkish nation is celebrating with great pride the 91st anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey. Welcome to our National Day reception. The Republic of Turkey was founded on 29th October 1923 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He was a nation-builder and a great reformer whose vision has become a source of inspiration not only for the Turkish people, but also for nations, which were following in the footsteps of Turkey in their march towards independence and nation-building process. The vision put forward by Atatürk has transformed Turkey into a modern and progressive country since the proclamation of the Republic.
“Today, Turkey stands proud to be a secular democracy, an active member of the Euro-Atlantic community pursuing full membership in the European Union and a member of the G-20, a donor country, the 6th largest economy in Europe, supported by a dynamic private sector.
Through its unique geo-strategic location, Turkey serves not only as a crucial geographic, economic, political and cultural bridge between continents and peoples but acts as an important contributor to the regional and global peace and security in close cooperation and collaboration with its allies and partners.”
The consummate diplomat added: “Atatürk’s motto ‘Peace at Home, Peace in the World’, has laid down the foundations of Turkish foreign policy. This motto is also reflected on the Turkish policy of partnership with Africa, which is based on reinforcing mutual gains and joint economic interests in bilateral relations. Relations with Africa constitute one of the prime orientations of Turkish foreign policy. Being an Afro-Eurasian state, Turkey’s policy of opening up to Africa is not just the reflection of a transient political and economic expectation. On the contrary, it is the product of a process with strong historical and cultural aspects. Turkey and The Gambia have friendly and brotherly relations, based on a long and deep-rooted past.
“Thanks to the support of the Gambian authorities, Turkey was able to open its embassy in Banjul in 2011. The mutual opening of the embassies in Banjul and Ankara recently, has undoubtedly strengthened the bilateral cooperation between Turkey and The Gambia. Within this framework, 2014 has also been a productive year in terms of bilateral relations between Turkey and The Gambia.
“In February, His Excellency, President Sheikh Prof Alhaji Dr Yahya AJJ Jammeh Babili Mansa paid a state visit to Turkey upon the invitation of Turkish president. This visit was the first state visit of HE President Jammeh to Turkey after the Turkish Embassy was opened up in Banjul”.
Dilating on his government’s efforts to promote economic development in The Gambia through investment, Ambassador Soner said: “Turkish firms have increasingly been interested in infrastructure projects in The Gambia recently. For this purpose, Turkish business persons have started visiting The Gambia frequently and carried out negotiations with related authorities. In terms of development cooperation, aid and assistance projects have been conducted by the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency and Red Crescent, as well as by several Turkish non-governmental organisations in The Gambia. Specific to the Ebola outbreak, our Health Ministry and Tika have started delivering materials and equipment to support the efforts of The Gambia to keep The Gambia as an Ebola-free country.
“Regarding education, each year the Turkish Government allocates higher education scholarships to Gambian students. Turkish Government has provided 24 higher education scholarships for Gambian students for the period of 2014-2015. The Turkish Gendarmerie Forces Training Centre in Banjul assisted the training of a serious number of Gambian military personnel between 1991 and 2005. Based on this tradition, Turkish Gendarmerie Forces give special training courses for the Gambian officers in Turkey so that the Gambia Armed Forces can contribute in a more efficient way to the UN peacekeeping operations all over the world. Besides this, within the scope of capacity building trainings, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, diplomats, soldiers and law enforcement personnel have been receiving on the job training in Turkey.
“Moreover, Turkey and The Gambia have remarkable cooperation in international organisations, mainly at the UN specialised agencies and Islamic Cooperation Organisation. The Gambia has always supported Turkey on the international platforms. Turkey has also been a staunch supporter of Gambian interests in those fora. As a reflection of these relations, Turkey assumed the role of the donor facilitator for The Gambia in the context of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2012. Above all, President Jammeh’s wise leadership and close and personal friendship with President Recep Tayyip Erdo an occupies an important place in these increasingly improved relations between The Gambia and Turkey.
“Turkey shares and fully supports The Gambia’s visions of 2016 and 2020 for development and self-sufficiency achievements. I am proud to share that The Gambia is a true friend in Africa and that the Gambian people are brothers and sisters of the Turkish people. In other words, Turkey has always been a trans-continental brother of the Gambian people.”
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