Turkey to honour deals with Kenya despite coup attempt

The Turkish government says it will pursue the set of deals reached with Kenya despite stringent decisions it has made in the aftermath of a coup attempt.

At a meeting with northeastern governors, Turkish Ambassador Deniz Eke said the coup attempt did not affect the policies of her government.

She emphasised that Turkey’s relationship with the outside world, including Kenya, will remain unaffected despite the domestic upheaval.

“Our commitment is there. We have been negotiating key agreements to follow up on the memorandum of understanding we signed recently and this has not been affected by the coup attempt.

“We expect to launch the Joint Commission on Cooperation with Kenya through which these set of agreements are to be managed,” she told journalists, referring to a recent state visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Kenya last month.

The governors, under the umbrella agency of the Frontier Counties Development Council, were meeting the ambassador to show “solidarity” with the Turkish government.

They included governors Nathif Jama of Garissa, Ahmed Abdullahi of Wajir, Ali Roba (Mandera), Isiolo deputy governor Mohamed Guled and representatives from Lamu and Tana River counties.

“We have received a lot of support from Turkey as counties from the northeastern in terms of development projects such as water and healthcare. We would like to be associated with this type of relationship,” said Governor Jama.

“Turkey remains a great player in the world and has been contributing to stabilise the region. We stand with them,” added Isiolo Deputy Governor Mohamed Guled.

Turks have generally been supporting the region through the Turkish International Cooperation and Coordination Agency.

Last month, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Turkish counterpart signed a number of MoUs to improve trade between the two countries.

President Kenyatta is expected to visit Turkey later in August in a bid to seek ways of raising exports from the current Sh1.3 billion against Sh14.4 billion imports from Turkey.

COUP ATTEMPT

On July 15, Turkey announced it had thwarted an attempted coup meant to depose President Erdogan.

The ensuing violence killed 240 people and wounded 1400 others.

But in response, President Erdogan either arrested, sacked or suspended thousands of government staff thought to be associated with exiled Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen.

On Thursday last week, Turkey also imposed a three-month state of emergency, arguing it will enable the country to purge its system of Gulen’s sympathisers.

The new move allows the president and his cabinet to draft new laws without the approval of parliament and can restrict the rights of people at certain times.

Ms Eke, though, said that the state of emergency is to provide room to her government to deal with suspects.

“The situation of emergency is a measure not to limit freedoms enjoyed by the people but is meant to pass some laws in order to bring some perpetrators to justice,” she said.

“Turkey is committed to democracy and the stability of the world. We will continue to join our hands to ensure that terrorism is defeated whether in the form of Al-Shabaab or whether it takes the form of Gulen terrorists in Turkey.”