First Presidential Visit to Nigeria by Turkey

Launching his official program in Nigeria, President Gül declared that Turkey does not have unilateral interests in Africa nor does it seek unilateral profit in Africa at all.

President Abdullah Gül launched his official schedule in Nigeria after the 7th D-8 Summit of Heads of State and Government had ended.

As part of his program, President Gül met with both Turkish and Nigerian businessmen at a breakfast first. He was later welcomed with an official ceremony by President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria at the State House. Afterwards, the two Presidents had a tete-a-tete and chaired the talks between their delegations. They then held a joint press conference. The Nigerian President later gave a working luncheon for President Gül.

TURKISH-NIGERIAN BILATERAL RELATIONS DATING BACK TO OTTOMAN TIMES

Revealing his pleasure to be the first Turkish President to visit Nigeria, President Gül noted that the bilateral relations between the two countries dated back to the Ottoman Empire, recalling that Turkey had recognized Nigeria right after the latter gained her independence and soon after opened an embassy there.

Underscoring that the cooperation between Turkey and Nigeria are fast developing under the roofs of such international organizations as the UN, ICO and D-8, the President shared his feelings, saying: “I hope that my visit will both consolidate our efforts towards strengthening and diversifying our relations and provide a basis for developing our cooperation in the economic, commercial, military, cultural and humanity fields.”

NIGERIA’S EXCEPTIONAL PLACE IN AFRICA

The President declared Nigeria with its population, natural richness and dynamism to be a leading country in terms of politics, economy, military and culture not only in West Africa but also in the whole of the continent. Lauding Nigeria for its tireless efforts towards the establishment of peace, stability and prosperity in the African continent, President Gül continued his speech as follows: “That the center of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is in the capital city of Abuja, that you are currently holding the presidency of this community, that you have undertaken an active role in the African Union and that you are one of the countries contributing most to the missions to keep peace in the continent are all the symbols that Nigeria holds an exceptional place in the whole of Africa. Moreover, I hereby would like to congratulate Nigeria, whose role in the global arena has been enhanced when it was elected temporary member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) by the fact that it took over the UNSC term presidency on July 1, 2010.”

Hoping that Nigeria will be able to reach its aim to have taken its place among the top 20 strongest economies in the world by 2020, the President underlined that Turkey, within the bounds of possibility, is trying to contribute to Nigeria’s social, political and economic evolution.

“WE ARE NOT SEEKING UNILATERAL PROFIT IN AFRICA”

Referring to the Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit, held in August 2008 with which a new foundation of spirit and understanding of collaboration between Turkey and Africa has been established, the President stated: “Our heartfelt wish is to carry the bilateral strategic partnership bonds between Turkey and Africa up to the highest level building up from this robust foundation. I would like to reiterate one important issue that I have done in every occasion: Turkey’s interest in Africa is not unilaterally driven nor does it seek a unilateral profit in Africa at all!”

Turkey’s aim is to establish permanent friendship and cooperation bonds that will serve the stability, peace and prosperity of the two countries and nations on the basis of mutual interests, which could be achieved within the framework of mutual respect, cooperation, information and technology sharing and through acting in the spirit of a win-win philosophy, he asserted.