Turkey Ambassador Ismail Sefa Yuceer, has said his country is located at the crossroads of different regions, regimes, civilizations and countries.
“Our heritage, social and political harmony, political, economic and social developments enable us to steer through the major challenges of our region,” he said at 96th anniversary of the founding of our republic Turkey at a local hotel on Tuesday.
He added that traditionally Turkey has been following a multifaceted foreign policy throughout the years, pursuing this approach, he stated that Turkey has made significant contributions to peace, stability and security in its immediate neighbourhood and globally at large.
According to him, the ongoing conflicts and terrorism with the involvement of foreign players and their accomplices in the region have very negative repercussions and concomitant costs over the people of the region.
Ambassador Yuceer pointed out that the Turkish people are in solidarity with Turkish institutions have managed to cope with and survive all the existential threats and challenges posed directly by some external elements or indirectly by their heinous internal accomplices.
“To be more concrete, we are continuing our fight against the remnants of Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (fetö) as well as other terrorist groups such as Daesh, PKK, PYD and YPG which continue to pose serious threats to the security and stability of our neighbourhood and people.
“At this particular juncture, I would like to furnish you with some background information regarding operation peace spring targeting the terrorist elements in northern Syria. Due to the Syrian regime’s assaults and these terrorist organisations’ heinous attacks on the innocent people of Syria, the PKK, PYD and YPG terrorist elements, capitalising on the power vacuum in Syria, illegally occupied more than 32% of the Syrian territories.
Simultaneously, the PKK, PYD and YPG terrorist groups, displacing millions of innocent civilians from their homelands, also changed the demographic structure of the region. At present, Turkey hosts around 4 million displaced people from Syria,” he revealed.
Ambassador Yuceer announced that his tour of duty in The Gambia is coming to an end within few weeks, noting that having spent 3 years in The Gambia, based upon his experience and observations in the country, he concluded that The Gambia could be more hopeful for the future than when he arrived in late 2016.