The Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria Ambassador Hidaye Bayraktar says his country is seeking collaboration with Nigeria in areas of Defence cooperation, to further boost the existing relations his country has had with Nigeria.
Ambassador Hidaye Bayraktar stated this when he paid a courtesy call on the chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya at the Army Headquarters, Abuja.
The Turkish Ambassador who has been in the country for four and a half months said Turkey, like Nigeria, has had to deal with issues of terrorism therefore his country is ready to collaborate in tackling these challenges.
“One of my aim when I came over here to Nigeria is to boost economic relations and the relations we had in the military field and as you know we (Turkey went through the same challenges as Nigeria, the terrorism. As people who have gone through the same challenges we are ready to collaborate with Nigeria in this field we have so many potentials that we can both share”
Responding, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya said in critical areas such as training of personnel, Air Defence as well as Special Forces, Nigerian Army looks forward to more mutually beneficial relationships.
“As a means of further enhancing our cordial relationship between our countries and indeed our services especially the army particularly and the land forces of Turkey I have been to turkey Defence Trade Fair was held there, we intercepted within our areas of interest, I particularly interfaced with the producers of COBRA and other equipment, we will cash in on the willingness expressed by the President of turkey and our dear president to work together, they have been in good relationship, we also discussed with the Chief of Army Staff land forces of Turkey on other areas of interest including training, air defence equipment ” said General Faruk Yahaya.
The COAS further stated that a delegation from the Nigerian Army, Defence industry cooperation of Nigeria, Air Force, Defence Headquarters visited Turkey where they interacted with military hardware manufacturers such as Cobra manufacturing.
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