Turkish Ambassador in Bangladesh Mustafa Osman Turan has listed two watershed moments of solidarity that elevated the relations between Bangladesh and Turkey to a new height and could make it stronger with the exchange of high-level visits in the coming days, reports UNB.
He said there are some circles that do not want to see Bangladesh and Turkey stay so close but Turkey will not fall into that trap if there is any attempt to spoil the "long-standing and deep-rooted relations".
"There may be some disagreements, which are sometimes unfortunately misinterpreted, but we are too close," said the ambassador without naming the circles.
"You can interpret it as you hear it. I am not here to name names."
Ambassador Turan made the remarks while interacting with the members of the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at the embassy on Wednesday.
DCAB Vice-President Md Mahfuzur Rahman Mishu and General Secretary AKM Moinuddin also spoke.
Referring to the two significant moments of solidarity, he said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was one of the first world leaders to send a strong message of solidarity to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the "very unfortunate coup attempt" in Turkey in 2016.
"No other countries, not even Turkey's allies in Europe, sent a message to the Turkish government but Bangladesh did. That shows how close the two countries are."
Referring to the second moment of solidarity between the two countries, the envoy said Turkey's First Lady Emine Erdogan visited Bangladesh immediately after the Rohingya crisis had begun in 2017.
"Probably Turkey is the country which understands Bangladesh the best when it comes to hosting over a million Rohingya refugees. We are hosting more than 4 million refugees," he mentioned.
The ambassador said they are very much present on the ground in Cox's Bazar to support the Rohingyas and the host communities. "However, repatriation of the Rohingyas should be the real solution to the crisis."
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