Turkey lauds Bahrain for supporting legitimacy

Manama, Oct. 30 (BNA): Turkey's Ambassador Hatun Demirer has praised Bahrain's principled stances and stressed the significance of His Majesty's King Hamad support to her country. "There are some countries and people, such as Bahrain and Bahrainis, who deserve praise and citations as we celebrate our National Day," Demirer said. "I am proud to highlight that during the challenging times that Turkey went through in July, the Kingdom of Bahrain stood by us from the very first moment. His Majesty the King was the first leader from the region and the Arab world to pay an official visit to Turkey. Bahrain, with its principled stance in strongly rejecting any attempt to undermine the constitutional legitimacy in Turkey, became as big as the world to us," the ambassador said in her speech at the reception she hosted to celebrate Turkey's 93rd anniversary of its Republic Day. Hundreds of guests, including Shaikh Khalifa bin Rashid Al Khalifa and Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali Al Khalifa, senior state officials, ambassadors, and members of the Turkish community, were present at the reception. "I am proud as I serve Turkey and the Turkish people as ambassador. I am equally proud that I am serving here in the lovely kingdom of Bahrain, a great country with great people," she said. Demirer said that several developments in the region and in Turkey occurred since she hosted the ceremony in October last year. "We had to live through sad days caused by Daesh and PKK terror attacks. They meant to harm and scare us and to frighten our friends visiting Turkey. Did they succeed? Certainly not! On the contrary, they strengthened our determination to eradicate all types of terrorism in our country and in the region. Their malicious acts have reinforced our resilience," she said. The July 15 coup d'état was another threat that Turkey had to face, she added. "Our democracy and our legitimately elected government were their targets. The Turkish people and our conscious choices were their target. However, that night, our nation spoke clearly against any coups. Despite some misconceptions about Turkey, the culture of democracy is so strong in our country that any threat to it is inherently destined to fail," she said. Demirer presented her credentials as Turkey's ambassador to Bahrain in November 2013. She is the second woman ambassador from Turkey to serve in Bahrain. Hilal Baskal made history twice in May 2001 when she became the first woman ambassador in Bahrain and the first Turkish woman appointed as a diplomatic head of mission in an Arab country.