SPEECH
BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, PRESIDENT OF INDIA, WHILE ACCEPTING THE CREDENTIALS
FROM MR. YUSUF BULUC, AMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE OF TURKEY TO
INDIA
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 19, 1998
Excellency,
It gives me great
pleasure to receive the Letter of Credence by which the President of the
Republic of Turkey has appointed you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
of the Republic of Turkey to the Republic of India.
I welcome you to
India in the 50th year of our independence as also of the establishment
of diplomatic relations between our two countries.
I am confident that
you will feel at home in India, as there is much in common between the
languages, customs and traditions, art and culture of our two countries.
I would like to take
this opportunity to convey to H.E. Mr. Suleiman Demirel, President of
the Republic of Turkey, my best wishes for his health and happiness, and
to the people of Turkey, for their prosperity and success in the new year.
I recall with utmost
happiness my own association with your beautiful country as India's Ambassador
in the 70s. I look forward to visiting Turkey again in the near future
in response to the kind invitation of President Demirel and renewing my
association with the leadership and the people.
Common history and
culture provide a strong foundation for contemporary Indo-Turkish relations.
We share common values of democracy and secularism. We stand together
against extremism, fundamentalism and terrorism. Given these commonalities
and the emergent regional and global profiles of both our countries, we
enter the next millennium together with hopes and aspirations.
In the footsteps
of Mustafa Kemal Attaturk, Turkey has not only maintained its identity
and secular-democratic traditions, but has achieved remarkable results
in its developmental efforts. We have noted your successful economic liberalisation
process with interest and admiration. There are parallels between your
efforts and experiences, and what we ourselves have been seeking to achieve
over the last five decades.
In today's environment
of globalisation and inter-dependence, close economic cooperation between
fellow developing countries such as India and Turkey, assumes even greater
urgency. Our bilateral economic and commercial relations are happily on
the rise, but they still do not do justice to our true potential. It is
mainly here that we would need to direct our energies in the coming months.
Excellency, let me
wish you a successful and pleasant tenure in India. I am sure, through
your personal efforts, as also ours, we would be able to carry our bilateral
cooperation and understanding to new heights.
Thank you
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