By Erkan Avci and Serife Cetin
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s Ankara University presented Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu with a certificate of friendship on Wednesday for his contributions to developing relations between Turkey and African states during his seven-year ambassadorship to Ankara.
During a visit to Ankara University’s presidency as part of a five-day visit to the Turkish capital, Wirtu said he was happy to see that the Ethiopian students enrolled at Turkey’s first public university were building bridges between the two nations.
Wirtu said the time he worked as an ambassador between 2006 and 2013 gave him the chance to see how the relations between Turkey and Ethiopia grew stronger day by day, adding further cooperation in education would be a significant contribution to bilateral ties.
He also praised the Turkish nation for standing against the failed July 15 coup attempt last year and for protecting democracy.
The successfully defeated putsch attempt was staged by Fetullah Gulen Terrorist Organization’s (FETO) U.S. based ringleader Fetullah Gulen, according to Turkey.
AU President Prof. Erkan Ibis, for his part, said that Ankara and Ethiopian Addis Ababa universities had signed earlier Wednesday a memorandum of understanding to devise joint academic, educational, scientific and cultural programs in the future.
In addition to building bridges between the two nations, these programs will also show the world that Islam cannot be linked to terrorism, but instead peace and science, according to Ibis.
– “Trade volume to increase from $500 million to $1 billion”
Meanwhile, Wirtu said that both countries aimed to boost economic relations by raising bilateral trade volume from $500 million to $1 billion.
He said that the relations between the two countries became especially stronger after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the country in 2005, adding it was a “turning point” for not only Ethiopia but for the whole continent.
“[With the help of this visit] Africa stopped being a desperate continent,” Wirtu said.
When Erdogan was prime minister, Ankara declared 2005 the Year of Africa, Turkey was accorded observer status by the African Union, and Turkey’s official policy of “opening to Africa” gained new momentum.
