Relations with Turkey go beyond Governments: Prime Minister

Islamabad: July 18, 2012:  Prime Minister of Pakistan Raja Pervez Ashraf has said that the mechanism of High Level Cooperation Council between Pakistan and Turkey is geared towards further strengthening the bilateral cooperation and increasing its scope to the benefit of peoples of both countries. Turkey and Pakistan enjoy exemplary relations which go beyond the governments and are rooted in common history, culture and ethos of our people, he stated.

The Prime Minister expressed these views while talking to Mr. Cemil Cicek, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, who called on him at the PM House at the head of an accompanying Turkish Parliamentary delegation.

The Prime Minister said that the special relations between both countries should be sustained through more parliamentary exchanges and people-to-people contacts.

Referring to Prime Minister Erdagon’s address to joint sitting of Parliament in May this year, the Prime Minister said that it reflected the depth of our bilateral relations and was frankly appreciated across political divide.

He noted with satisfaction that Pak-Turkish Friendship Group in Turkish Parliament was the single largest grouping in the Turkish Grand Assembly.

The Prime Minister said that Pakistan’s Parliament passed historic legislation during last four and half years, which devolved political, administrative and economic powers to the federating units and addressed long-standing demands of the people.

The Prime Minister thanked the government and people of Turkey for their generous assistance during the earthquake in 2005 and the floods of 2010 and 2011.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Cemil Cicek, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly, described the relations between Pakistan and Turkey as ‘most important one’, which went beyond their cooperation in different areas and was rooted in the collective ethos of people.

He underscored the importance of strengthening rail and air connectivity to further boost cooperation between the two countries.  He said that Pakistan was their second home and they felt immensely pleased while being here.

Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for Defence Production Sardar Bahadur Ahmad Khan Sehar, Minister for Narcotics Control Haji Khuda Bux Rajar, Dr Nadeem Ehsan MOS for Overseas Pakistanis, and senior officials of the concerned departments were also present on the occasion.

The Turkish Parliamentary delegation included Members of Turkish Parliament Ozlem Yemisci, Burhan Kayaturk, Co-Chairman of the Turkey-Pakistan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group, Oktay Ozturk, and Mustafa Babur Hizlan, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey.