As the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye here in Ethiopia, a beautiful country in East Africa, I’m excited to celebrate yet another new year. Our 128 years-long diplomatic relations and people-to-people relations dating further back approximately five centuries are concrete proofs of the strength of our friendship. It gives me great pleasure to enjoy the warm welcoming gestures of the Ethiopian people on the streets once they learn that I am the Turkish Ambassador. I have even met people who started practicing Turkish language, thanks to the Turkish TV series widely watched by the Ethiopians.
The year 2016 witnessed the further development of our countries’ solid relations and cooperation in many areas. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both Türkiye and Ethiopia have exchanged visits throughout the year only to further strengthen our existing cooperation. We believe that these and consecutive high-level contacts in 2017 will provide us new bilateral horizons, within which we will be able to develop concrete projects to the benefit of two countries.
In this framework, we are ready to work on economic and commercial areas, where the current relations seem to be well below the potential. In addition, we would like to focus on culture and education. Concrete cooperation on these areas will help our peoples’ get to know each other much closer. We happily see that every year, there is growing interest among the Ethiopian youths towards the Turkish Government’s scholarship programs. Also, it gives us pride when we see that the graduates are becoming prominent figures in the Ethiopian society. We believe that, the establishment of a Turkish cultural center in Addis Ababa would crown our existing people-to-people relations.
Internally, we have watched how the Government of Ethiopia continued to successfully address the national and regional challenges. We have also observed how Addis Ababa, the “New Flower” has been beautified in a very quick span of time.
With this understanding, we wish 2017 brings the much-deserved peace, stability and welfare to the brotherly people of Ethiopia.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! MELKAM ADDIS AMET!
BY BERK BARAN (Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union)
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2024
