Turkey carefully following Afghanistan as interim government announced, says President

As the Taliban just announced an interim cabinet for Afghanistan, Turkey is carefully monitoring developments in the country, said the Turkish president on Tuesday.

“We don't know how long this interim cabinet will last. All we have to do is to follow this process carefully,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a joint press conference with Felix Tshisekedi, his Democratic Republic of Congo counterpart, who is visiting the Turkish capital Ankara.

On future operations of the airport in Kabul, the Afghan capital, Erdogan said Turkey has taken a positive approach from the start, but such developments are not yet concrete.

Turkey has long been mentioned as possibly running the Kabul airport, but it has set certain conditions, such as sharing the financial and security burdens.

The Taliban earlier Tuesday announced an “interim government” in Afghanistan to be led by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund.

The announcement came a day after the group said they had taken full control of the country, following their lightning takeover of most of its territory last month.

Bilateral relations

On Turkish-Congolese ties, Erdogan said: “We have mutually confirmed our will to develop cooperation.”

“We will work hard together to raise our economic and commercial relations to a level worthy of our friendship,” Erdogan said.

Boosting the bilateral trade volume to $250 million is the target, Erdogan said, adding: “The agreements that have just been signed will contribute greatly to achieving this goal.”

Ahead of the press conference, the two counties signed agreements on tourism, investment, and tax regulations.

According to Turkey's Foreign Ministry, Turkey’s exports to DR Congo in 2019 totaled nearly $55.9 million and imports $1.47 million, while the total bilateral trade volume in 2019 was $57.25 million.

Erdogan also thanked Tshisekedi for his sincere support in Turkey's fight against the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) – the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey.

Noting that Tshisekedi is also the chair of the African Union, Erdogan praised the president, saying he made significant contributions to stability and development on the African continent.

“We believe that the most permanent and realistic solutions to the problems of the continent will be found by our African brothers,” he said.

Partnership policies with Africa

Highlighting Turkey’s “partnership policies” with the continent since 2003, Erdogan said to date there have been two Turkey-Africa Partnership Summits, in Istanbul in 2008 and then in 2014 in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea.

Since 2003, Erdogan has paid official visits to 28 African countries accompanied by ministers, bureaucrats, and businessmen and spearheaded the signing of many bilateral pacts between Turkey and African countries.

Erdogan said that Turkey stood by “our African brothers with the medical aid we sent during the (coronavirus) pandemic.”

"Turkey places importance on opening diplomatic missions in all African countries, in order to enhance its relations with the continent. While the number of our embassies in Africa was only 12 in 2002, the number increased to 42 by the end of 2019," according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

For his part, Tshisekedi said that “cooperation and friendly relations” between the two countries will grow stronger.

He said that during his meeting with Erdogan, they discussed holding a Turkey-Africa summit in Turkey in the second half of November.