By Reginald Tapfumaneyi
The recently accredited Turkish Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mrs. Berna Kasnakli Versteden said Ankara and Harare enjoy good relations. This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between two countries.
“We have had high-level visits in the past two years despite COVID, Honourable Ministers visited Turkey on different occasions including the Turkey – Africa Partnership Summit and the Antalya Diplomacy Forum. We will be working on future high-level visits,” said Ambassador Versteden.
She said both countries are willing to further the relations, strengthen trade and economic cooperation and unearth the vast potential. This will serve to enhance prosperity for both Türkiye and Zimbabwe ” strengthened Kasnakli Versteden. She also said improving relations is not limited to trade. She mentioned “Türkiye Scholarships” that young and talented undergraduate and post graduate students receive full scholarships, as a perfect example of building educational and cultural bridges.
In response to human traffic allegations against Turkey embassy, Ambassador Kasnakli Versteden assured the nation that her country has in place serious measures to curb human trafficking. As the “most generous country” according to the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report in 2018 and hosting the largest number of refugees worldwide, Turkey has introduced numerous administrative and legal measures regarding the main pillars of combating human trafficking; prevention, protection, prosecution, and cooperation. She said she is dismayed to read claims from the local media that her Harare Embassy has been acting as a catalyst in the facilitation of illegal human trafficking and added that the Zimbabwean Embassy in Ankara have also clarified that the reports of trafficking were nothing short of the truth, as they also released a statement dismissing such allegations as unfound.
“Human trafficking is one of the most serious challenges of our modern day and my country’s location is critical to curbing human trafficking” she added.
Ambassador Kasnakli Versteden has been a career diplomat since 1996 and she held bilateral and multilateral postings abroad. This is her first posting to Africa as she replaced Ambassador Hakan Kivanc.
