Army Chief returns home after Turkey visit

Bangladesh Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman returned to Turkey on Saturday after a five-day official visit. This information was given in a post on the verified Facebook page of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Saturday (July 25) night.
It said that upon arriving in Turkey, the army chief paid tributes at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of the country’s founder and first president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. During the visit, the army chief separately paid courtesy calls on Turkish National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Turkish Chief of General Staff General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, Turkish Land Forces Commander General Metin Tokel and Istanbul Naval Shipyard Director Rear Admiral Recep Erdinç Yetkin.
He also met with representatives of the Turkish Defense Industries Corporation (SSB). The Chief of Army Staff was presented with a guard of honour during his visit to the Turkish Land Forces Headquarters. The meeting saw fruitful exchange of views on the existing friendly relations between Bangladesh and Turkey, bilateral defence cooperation, military training, defence technology, defence industry cooperation, capacity building and various issues of mutual interest. Both sides expressed their interest in further expanding professional relations, exchange of experiences and defence cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries in the future.
It was also said that as part of this visit, the Chief of Army Staff visited the activities of various leading defence industry and military technology institutions in Turkey. These include ASISGuard, TÜSİŞ, MKE, ŞERİLMAZ, STM, ROKETSAN, ASELSAN and BAYKAR.
During the visit, he was briefed about the production systems, research and development (R&D), cutting-edge technologies, innovative activities, defence production capabilities and future technology development plans of these institutions. He also discussed potential areas of mutual cooperation through exchange of views with senior officials of the concerned institutions. The Army Chief’s visit is expected to further strengthen the existing friendly relations between Bangladesh and Turkey and play an important role in strengthening the defense industry, military technology, training and capacity building.