A large Turkish business delegation will be visiting Dhaka early next year as Bangladesh is trying to tap investment from the country.
“Dhaka and Ankara enjoy a very warm relationship and the political relations will be deepened in the coming days,” Bangladesh Ambassador to Turkey M Allama Siddiki told Bangla Tribune.
We also have robust trade and defence cooperation, he added.
“An 18-member Turkish business delegation visited Dhaka last August and we are organizing to send a big delegation of about 50 entrepreneurs next February,” Allama said.
At present the two-way trade is $1.1 billion, which is heavily tilted towards Bangladesh.
The envoy said Bangladesh is mired by Rohingya crisis and Turkey all along supports us in overcoming it, he added.
Another foreign ministry official seeking anonymity said, Turkey has deviated from its earlier position of prioritizing Jamaat-e-Islami over the bilateral relations.
When the government started trials of different Jamaat leaders who supported Pakistan during the war of liberation, Turkey opposed the move and its then president wrote a letter about the trial process of Ghulam Azam, former chief of the political party.
Not only that, it unofficially withdrew its ambassador over the issue at certain stage keeping the bilateral relationship at limbo, the official said.
The Turkish side started to engage with Bangladesh last year when the Rohingya crisis started, he said.
“It seems that the Turkish side was looking for an opportunity to connect with Dhaka and Rohingya crisis gave them the necessary space for re-engagement,” he added.
The official said, it is not clear whether the Turkish government and Jamaat are friends or not, but it is very much visible that at least they have come to their senses not to bring personal issue into the bilateral relationship, he added.
“One very good example is when several Jamaat leaders were hanged, they protested. But, last month Jamaat was declared ban and not a single statement was issued by the Turkish side.”