Turkish Ambassador in Dhaka Hüseyin Muftuoglu on Thursday said Turkey is against death penalty but it respects any independent court decision here.“In principle, we’ve abolished death penalty. We don’t have death penalty. We’re, in principle, against the death penalty,” the envoy told reporters at the Foreign Ministry after a meeting with Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni.
Responding to a question, the Turkish envoy said their position regarding death penalty is known to all and many (European) countries have similar conditions. “It’s a known fact. Many countries have similar conditions. But we respect the independent decisions of the court.”
Asked whether the issue relating to the trial of war crimes suspects was discussed at the meeting, Hüseyin Muftuoglu said, “This issue was not discussed at the meeting. I didn’t raise it.”
He, however, said all should look to the future in stead of going back to the past, and mentioned that Turkey and Bangladesh are very close partners.
“I’m a new ambassador here. I want to work very closely with Bangladesh here,” the Turkish envoy said.
There was tension between Dhaka and Ankara for a while over Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s letter (December 23) to President Zillur Rahman calling for ‘clemency’ to the accused under trial in the International Crimes Tribunals for the ‘sake of peace in society’.
Gul requested clemency for Ghulam Azam and the other accused saying they are too old to stand trial and apprehended that it might cause a civil war in Bangladesh.
The envoy, however, was optimistic of concluding either a Preferential Trading Agreement (PTA) or a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries as soon as possible to boost the trade relations.
He also expressed his sentiment of deepening bilateral relations, particularly in the area of trade and investment.
The envoy acknowledged the difficulties of Bangladeshi apparel exporters to Turkey due to imposition of additional duties by the government of Turkey in 2011.
The Turkish Ambassador sought Bangladesh’s support in different candidatures in the UN bodies such as FAO and Unesco.
During today’s meeting, Dipu Moni said Bangladesh-Turkey relations reached a new height after reciprocal visits of Presidents and Prime Ministers of both the countries in recent years.
In the meeting, the issue of Myanmar refugees also came up where both the countries are working together to resolve the issues with support from the international community, including the OIC. (Source: UNB)
