Erdogan flogs Turkey’s terror combat experience to Nigeria
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan touts Turkey’s terror combating experiences as a remedy for the crisis caused by the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group.
“We are ready to combat terrorism with Nigeria. We would like you to enjoy our experience in the field of defense,” said Erdogan during a joint press conference with his Nigerian counterpart Muhammadu Buhari in the capital Abuja on Wednesday.
The visiting president also hailed Nigerian troops battling the insurgency, saying “any terror in Nigeria deeply hurts our hearts.”
He went on to say that terrorism “is the same all over the world” and has “no religion or nationality.”
Turkey has been engaged in a long standing battle with elements it defines as terrorists such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). It also carries out offensives against reported terrorist targets in northern Iraq and Syria.
President Buhari, in turn, thanked Erdogan for his support during the “difficult times” his country has been going through.
Erdogan also expressed interest in bolstering bilateral economic relations with the African country.
“I am accompanied by a large number of businessmen…We hope to be able to obtain a positive outcome from this forum,” he said. “The population of Turkey and Nigeria is about 260 million people… that is a very important market if we combine our forces."
The Turkish president is currently on a four-nation tour of Africa. He traveled to Ivory Coast on Monday and Ghana on Tuesday and is set to arrive in Guinea late on Wednesday.
Despite recent gains against the terrorist group, Nigeria is still plagued by the terrorist activities of Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates to “Western education is forbidden.” Since 2009, Nigeria has been dealing with the deadly militancy in which around 20,000 people have been killed and over 2.5 million others made homeless.
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