Turkish pres welcomes cooperation with Sri Lanka against terror

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said that Turkey welcomed the cooperation of Turkey and Sri Lankan in fight against terrorism.

"Turkey is pleased with the cooperation of Turkey and Sri Lanka, two countries that have suffered much from terrorism, in international fight against terrorism," Gul told a joint press conference with Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

This is the first ever visit of a Sri Lankan president to Turkey.

During the press conference, Gul hoped that this visit would further improve bilateral relations and expressed expectation that the trade volume would reach $100 million by the end of 2008.

Also talking about a note India gave to Pakistan due to terrorist attacks on its territories, Gul said that a Pakistani-Afghan summit to take place in Istanbul this week would mainly focus on Asia's security, Afghanistan's future and settlement of Afghan-Pakistani problem through friendship.

Gul said, "naturally, terrorism also hits the region and many terrorist attacks occur in Pakistan."

The Turkish president said the dynamics of that region were very different and expressed belief that the meeting would yield positive results.

Before the press conference, two countries signed agreements on extradition of criminals and air transportation.

Rajapaksa told the conference that his current visit to Turkey would be a springboard to develop bilateral relations.

He said that the Sri Lankan government paid high attention to develop cooperation with Turkey in all areas, including counter terrorism. Stressing that his visit was the first one ever by a Sri Lankan president to Turkey, Rajapaksa said that Turkey and Sri Lanka had deep historical ties.

"My visit to Turkey would be a good opportunity to boost bilateral relations," Rajapaksa said.

"Counter terrorism is a topic that has been on the agenda of Turkey and Sri Lanka for a long time. There is no good or bad terrorist. It would be to the benefit of our two countries to develop cooperation against terror," Rajapaksa said.

"The agreement on air transportation that has been signed today will bring the peoples of our two countries closer to each other. I invite the Turkish people to visit Sri Lanka," Rajapaksa said.