Speech delivered by
H.E. Ms. Deniz Çakar, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey
on the occasion of the
93rd Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Turkey
Windhoek, 03 November 2016

-Guest
of Honour, Deputy Minister of the International Relations and Cooperation HonourablePeya Mushelenga,

-Honourable Members of the Parliament,

-Honourable Laura Mcleod-Katjirua, Governor of Khomas Region

-Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues, members of the Diplomatic Corps ,

-My
Dear Fellow citizens,

-Distinguished members of the press

-Distinguished Guests

I am honoured to have your
presence here today on the 93rd anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic
of Turkey.

93 years ago on 29 October 1923,
the Great State’s Man, a Great Commander and leader, our Founding Father Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk, declared the Republic. This
was a day in our history of a profound change. Not an independence day but a day of transforming the country from
Monarchy to Republic . Ghazi Mustafa Kemal, had one motto which he held on
tightly, “ PEACE AT HOME, PEACE ABROAD”.

In Today’s world we understand and appreciate the value and
deep meaning of this vision much better.

What did we do in 93 years? Let me share with you briefly some figures in
various areas.

Today Republic of Turkey is the 17^th largest economy in the
world, 6^th largest in Europe. Member of G-20.

It is among the top five
fastest growing economies according to 2016 figures.

In 2015 Turkey was the second
largest donor in humanitarian assistance in the world.

Home of the largest number of refugees in the
world, nearly 3 million and 2,7 million
of them are Syrian refugees.

Located at the crossroads between major energy
producers and consumer markets, Turkey has become an energy hub, contributing
to regional energy security. Turkey is aiming at establishing an uninterrupted
and reliable flow of the Greater Caspian and Middle Eastern hydrocarbon
resources to Turkey and to Europe via the Turkish territory. The Trans
Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) will
start delivering gas to Turkey at the end of 2018 and to Europe in 2020.The pipeline could include additional Azeri
volumes plus Turkmen gas.

We are building the biggest
airport in the world, when completed in 4 years time, targeting passenger capacity of 150 million pax average
per year.

Turkish Airlines flies to 291
destinations in 116 countries around the globe. In this regard it is the number
airline in terms of destinations.

Distinguished Guests,

This is our 4^th National Day celebration in Namibia since the
opening of the Embassy in 2012. Turkey’s political and economic partnership
with Africa is getting stronger day by day, based on an equal partnership.
In fact as I was addressing to you, Turkey-Africa
Economy and Business Forum is taking
place in Istanbul right now with the participation of 39 countries, 34
ministers from Africa and more than 1500 businessmen and women together with
the presence of leading financial institutions . We believe in Africa and Africa will grow
further.

Namibia is currently represented in the Forum by a business delegation led by the Hon. Deputy Minister of
Trade and Industrialization.

We are determined to support the
institutional capacities of the African Union and other regional organizations
in achieving progress on the priority areas which will consolidate African
ownership of African matters.

With its 17 offices in Africa,
the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, TİKA, carries out development
assistance projects throughout the continent.
As you know 11^th
Office of TIKA was established in
Windhoek in 2014 covering the South
African region and since then delivered
35 projects in Namibia in various fields country wide.

Dear Guests,

We are commited to further enhance the existing
friendly relations between Turkey and Namibia on a unique and special ground,
based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and further co-operation in
every field possible.

We
have been working hard to set the legal ground for various areas of
cooperation, including but not limited to, political dialogue, trade and
investments, aviation, military, education and visa facilitation, tourism,
energy. Training of Namibian Diplomats
at the Diplomatic of Academy of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be
carried out next year too.

Tourism
is another promising field between Turkey and Namibia. Our efforts are bearing
fruits. Now Namibia is rising fast in
the list of popular destinations among
Turkish adventure travellers. A
promotional documentary on Namibia
has been shown in all Turkish Airlines inflight movies since September.

The
cooperation efforts extended to the field of Broadcasting Corporations between Turkey and Namibia. Followed by the
Cooperation Protocol signed between NBC and Turkish Radio and Television-TRT in April 2015, a Turkish TRT documentary crew
completed the Natural Wonders of Namibia
documentary together with the NBC crew. This documentary will be available
before the end of the year.

Trade volume between our countries are
increasing gradually. It has been 8 times more since opening of our Embassy. It does not reflect the
potential between our countries yet, the progress is visible.

Distinguished Guests,

Now I would like to propose a toast, to the
bright future of very friendly relations
between our countries, and to the health and well beings of H.E. Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey, and H.E. Dr .Hage Geingob,
President of the Republic of Namibia.

Dear guests, I would like to invite Mezzo Soprano Mrs Serap
Çiftçi and Pianist Mrs Nurser Ugan , to give us a mini concert before we start
to enjoy our food. We wait for you all tomorrow evening at the National
Theater for the Grand Concert of this
marvellous Duo.

Thank you.