Elif Çomoğlu Ülgen, Turkey's ambassador to South Africa, responds to a column by Shannon Ebrahim, Independent Media's Group Foreign Editor, in which she questions the export of military hardware to Turkey.
As each country is under severe distress to strike a balance between protecting the health of its people and providing a livelihood through a functioning economy under the pandemic, I am proud to witness that Turkey and South Africa have been at the forefronts of the efforts to tackle Covid-19 in their respective regions.
In the same vein, Turkey has been implementing comprehensive social and economic measures to ensure the health and wellbeing of its people, as well as undertaking a key responsibility to act as a regional hub, thanks to its geographic role bridging Europe and Asia and fulfilling its pledge to bring home our citizens abroad with repatriation flights. Thanks to Turkey’s strong health system, the number of cases remains under control.
Needless to say, such military transactions are subject to strict legal scrutiny in both countries and naturally they were cleared from relevant authorities with all necessary permits granted. However, I regret to see that the matter was taken out of context in the media and abused so as to serve the ill-intended underlying agendas of Turkey’s enemies, attempting to vilify Turkey as if it is a destination of concern.
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