The interview of the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Türkiye, M Amanul Haque, to the Ankara Bureau of Report:
- Mr. Ambassador, Bangladesh, which is home to over 166 million people, Bangladesh was once East Pakistan. Please talk about the independence of your country.
- In 1971, Bangladesh got its independence under the leadership of the greatest Bengali of all time, our Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. We just celebrated our 53rd Independence and National Day on March 26, 2023. Bangabandhu always dreamed of making Bangladesh a “Shonar Bangla” (Golden Bengal), which means building a peaceful and prosperous country for its people, where they would live in harmony and happiness.
As you have mentioned ‘tolerance’, please note that while building the war-torn country from scratch, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib set an inimitable example of tolerance and sympathy towards the anti-liberation forces and their collaborators. Unfortunately, the journey towards achieving his cherished dream of Golden Bengal was temporarily halted after he along with his family members were martyred on August 15, 1975, by the agents of the same defeated anti-independence forces and their successors.
Nonetheless, the present government, under the leadership of his able daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has been rendering untiring efforts in materializing that dream of Bangabandhu. Bangladesh has already graduated to the level of a ‘developing country’ from its previous status of an LDC.
- Bangladesh cooperates with Azerbaijan within the framework of the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). What other areas do you think the two countries can expand their cooperation in?
- You have rightly mentioned that Bangladesh cooperates with Azerbaijan within the framework of the UN and OIC. Both countries are NAM members as well. Bangladesh recognized the Republic of Azerbaijan on December 30, 1991, soon after its independence, and established diplomatic relations on February 26, 1992. At present, both countries work together comfortably in various UN bodies and the OIC in particular. Ministerial-level visits have been exchanged under the framework of international conferences held in both capitals.
In fact, Bangladesh has been consistent in pursuing its international relations on the basis of its foreign policy dictum enunciated by the Father of the Nation, i.e. “Friendship to all, malice towards none.” The relationship with Azerbaijan is no exception to that notion. There are lots of opportunities for us to work together in the fields of business, investment, and economic cooperation.
- Our countries are also part of Islamic culture. What can you say about it?
- Both our countries are part of ‘Islamic Culture’. Indeed, our common Islamic values teach us a culture of peace, tolerance, and harmony. I believe we can further strengthen our existing bilateral ties by focusing on such similarities.
- After 30 years, Azerbaijan returned to its occupied lands. What was Bangladesh's position on the Karabakh issue, and what is its current position?
- Bangladesh believes in the peaceful resolution of conflicts. As such, our position on the Karabakh issue is very clear, as reflected in the OIC Resolution on ‘the Elimination of the Consequences of the Aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan’, the latest being adopted in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on March 16–17, 2023, during its 49th Council of Foreign Ministers.
- Until 2020, the ambassador of the People's Republic of Bangladesh to Türkiye, with his residence in Ankara, also worked as his country's ambassador to Azerbaijan. Currently, this authority is held by the Embassy of Bangladesh in Iran. Can this power be transferred to the Embassy of the People's Republic of Bangladesh in Türkiye?
- It is true that until 2020, the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Türkiye used to be concurrently accredited to Azerbaijan. It is a regular process in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have revision and accordingly redistribution of the list of concurrently accredited countries from time to time. Therefore, I cannot rule out the possibility of re-shifting the concurrent accreditation of Azerbaijan to the Bangladesh mission in Türkiye in the future.