By Lamin Kujabi
The President of Turkey, His Excellency Recep Tayyip, who visited The Gambia on Monday, January 27th for a day’s bilateral engagement, has praised The Gambia for leading the case of the persecuted Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar at the International Court of Justice.
Backed by the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Gambia has sued the Myanmar military government for perpetrating genocide, accusing them of trying to “destroy the Rohingya as a group, in whole or in part, by the use of mass murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence.” In a major ruling, the U.N. International Court of Justice at The Hague recently ordered Myanmar, formerly Burma, to “take all measures within its power” to protect Rohingya Muslims from genocide, calling the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in that Southeast Asian country as “extremely vulnerable” to military violence.
Turkey is an influential player of the OIC and its President has described Gambia’s move as a step in the right direction; and a lesson for other African countries.
Joint press conference
On bilateral matters, Mr E, having expressed delight for being the first Turkish President to visit Gambia, pledged his government’s support to the Barrow government to successfully host the 2022 OIC summit.
He indicated the need for Gambia and Turkey to exploit their economic agreements. He affirmed that the two Muslim-majority countries’ relationship has been fruitful, saying their trade gains is worth 55 million Dollars. He went on to cite Turkish government scholarship opportunities provided to Gambian students, and the Turkish Airline, which has started flight services from and to Gambia, as good examples of the strengthen to the relationship.
Mr E however called on the Gambia government to consider Turkish companies in terms of awarding contracts in The Gambia.
President Barrow on the other hand affirmed that Turkey provided support worth 17 million Dollars to The Gambia for the period of five years, and that the Turkish government promised to build children’s hospital and invest in many other sectors.
The Gambian leader later feted his Turkish counterpart and his delegation to a banquet before left for his country in the early hours of Tuesday.