Defence News
Çavuşoğlu: Turkey wants closer ties with Sri Lanka
The Turkish foreign minister on Nov. 6 said Turkey wants to develop holistic relations with Asia that has become the center of global economic power.
Inaugurating a new office of Sri Lanka’s Antalya Honorary Consulate General in the town of Alanya, Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Ankara desires to promote cooperation with Sri Lanka in fields such as economy, culture, and education.
Emphasizing that honorary consulates play an important role in diplomatic interactions, he recalled that the first Turkish diplomatic contact with Sri Lanka was established in 1864 when the Ottoman Empire opened an honorary consulate.
Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Sri Lanka following its independence in 1948, he added.
Çavuşoğlu said bilateral ties have grown stronger since a tsunami rocked Sri Lanka in 2004 and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid a visit to the country at the time.
