Samantha Chigogo Herald Correspondent
Zimbabwe has one of the best security systems in the world and some countries envy the peaceful and safe military conditions that prevail across the African nation, the Turkish Ambassador to Zimbabwe has said.
Addressing members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs at his residence in Harare yesterday, Ambassador Kadir Hidayet Eris said other European countries do covet the peaceful nature of Zimbabwe.
“Zimbabwe has one of the best security systems around and we admire how the Zimbabwean Government manages to keep its security system intact,” he said.
“You have one of the best policies set to avert any coup attempts and it is a good lesson to us as the lives that were lost during the attempted coup in Turkey can never be replaced.”
He said the coup attempt in Turkey was a nightmare that left the country in shambles with nearly 3,5 million refugees seeking international assistance from the European Union.
Ambassador Eris said stable political situations were vital in harnessing good bilateral relations with other nations.
“We need to establish viable bilateral ties with the Zimbabwean Government and we will start by establishing a joint Turkish-Zimbabwean group of parliamentarians so that they can learn one or two things from working together,” he said. “If people are not happy with the system, there are always some democratic ways of showing discontent as democracy should always prevail in any nation.”
He said he was working on materialising the Zim-Turkish association by October this year.
Ambassador Eris said political unrest was not good for the country’s economy.
“The group that organised for this coup has never had interests with cohabiting with other nations and these coups are a menace to the country and its economy,” he said.
“Last year we had growth in tourist arrivals and this year it is a disaster.
“Our tourist arrivals continue decreasing, of course, political situation is important in the region.”
He said Turkey was working on boosting trade relations with Zimbabwe. “Trade between our two countries has been limited in the past years and one of first steps to boost trade with Zimbabwe will be completing the civil aviation agreement which will see Turkish Airlines coming to Zimbabwe by year end,” Ambassador Eris said.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs chairperson Cde Kindness Paradza (Zanu-pf) said military coups were globally unacceptable.
“Zimbabwe and the SADC block condemn coups and we are very firm on our position and policies against military coups and like President Robert Mugabe always says, politics lead the gun and we will not tolerate any form of political aggrandisement,” he said.
“We commend the Government of Turkey and especially the people of this iconic nation who stood by their duly elected government and refused to succumb to this attempt to take their democratic right to choose their leaders, we applaud and take a cue from the people of Turkey.”
He said the United States of America should extradite Fethullah Gulen, the leader of a terrorist organisation that organised the failed coup in Turkey so that he could be punished accordingly.
Last month, a faction of Turkish armed forces organised a military coup against state institutions, including the government which dismally failed as forces loyal to the state and the country’s president defeated them.
Over 300 people particularly civilians were killed and many were wounded in the attempted coup which left over 3 000 military personnel arrested and thousands of judges suspended.