Turkey celebrates its 90th victory day

Paper Edition | Page: 11

The 90th anniversary of Turkey’s Victory Day was celebrated in Jakarta on Thursday.

The newly appointed Turkish Ambassador Zekeriya Akcam stood by the door of the ballroom in the JW Marriot Hotel, where the reception was thrown, accompanied by Military Attache Lt. Col. Bahadir Dalgic, and greeted some 300 guests one by one.

“It gives us great pleasure to see that today, relations between our two countries have been steadily consolidated in every field. Political and military relations are getting closer,” said Akcam, who was appointed as ambassador for Indonesia in June, in his speech.

The year 2012 is not only a decade away from Turkey’s century of commemorating victory, but is also the 62nd anniversary of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Indonesia.

Akcam said that frequent high-level visits between the two nations represented the pillars of growing cooperation between Turkey and Indonesia. The visits included President Bambang Yudhoyono’s journey to Turkey in 2010 and the Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s visit to Jakarta in April 2011.

Among important guests attending from various countries were the People’s Consultative Assembly Speaker Taufiq Kiemas and Administrative Reforms Minister Azwar Abubakar.

Turkey’s Victory Day is celebrated on Aug. 30 to commemorate the victory in the Battle of Dumlupinar, the final battle in the Turkish War of Independence in 1922.

“Indonesia is considered a great power in Southeast Asia and our gate to the region. We have set aside US$5 billion in trade with Indonesia within a five-year-period since 2011. We have successfully achieved $2 billion up to now,” said Turkey’s Economic Ministry Councellor Okan Ozturk. (aml)