Turkey To Partner With Nigeria In Fight Against Terrorism

Buhari,Erdogan

Nigeria and Turkey on Thursday agreed to strengthen partnership in combating terrorism.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his Turkish counterpart Recep Erdogan reached the agreement after talks in Ankara, the Turkish capital.

The Nigerian leader said his administration was determined to defeat terror group Boko Haram in the North East.

Buhari, who is in Turkey for the D-8 summit, said, “We were very surprised and disturbed by the claim made by Boko Haram on what they have been getting from ISIS; we know we will be able to contain them and we have proven that we can do it.”

The president, according to a statement by his media aide, Garba Shehu, said he was ‘‘very pleased’’ that the defence ministers of both countries held extensive discussions on developing new strategies for counter-terrorism.

"We are very pleased with the progress of the meeting so far and we are going to wait for the details of meetings between the two countries. 

We will as a result of the meeting between the ministers and officials of both countries, strengthen rapidly whatever their recommendations are.”

The statement also said the two leaders also discussed the prospects of increasing their bilateral trade, which has exceeded $779million in the first eight months of 2017.

In his remarks, President Erdogan, speaking on the fight against terrorism, said: “there is no difference between Boko Haram, Fethullah Terrorist Organisation or Daesh (ISIS), which have all killed and inflicted pain and hardship on innocent people.”

"All of these organisations are hordes of murderers that feed on the innocent people, and in the fight against terrorism, we will stand with our Nigerian friends, and we are ready to share our experience and provide all kinds of support.

"We also expect the same cooperation from Nigeria in fighting against Fethullah that murdered 250 Turkish citizens last year.”