KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today announced that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be visiting Malaysia soon.
Through a Facebook post, Anwar said Erdogan has expressed clear commitment regarding the visit in fulfilling his invitation to further strengthen the relationship between the two countries, during a virtual meeting last night.
"President Erdogan and I also agreed to meet face to face during the United Nations General Assembly (Unga) in New York next month," read the post.
Also present at the meeting was Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.
In the meeting, Anwar said he and Erdogan discussed defence cooperation when the Turkish Defence Industry Agency (SSB) sent a large delegation to participate in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima 2023) last May.
The Prime Minister. in expressing his admiration for Turkey’s defence technology advancement, said he was confident that Malaysia would benefit greatly from the close cooperation between the two countries.
"I have agreed in principle to finalise the Memorandum of Understanding in defence cooperation soon,” said Anwar.
Anwar said he also expressed the Unity Government's firm stance against any element of terrorism and not compromise with any party involved in terrorism in this country.
He also informed Erdogan about Malaysia's efforts to combat Islamophobia (hostility and hatred towards Islam) following the burning of the Quran in Sweden and strongly condemned such acts which have been justified as freedom of expression by the West
"That's why Malaysia has expressed its commitment to contribute one million copies of the Quran worldwide, including 15,000 copies with Swedish translation, as one of the efforts to deal with the West’s shallowness in their understanding of Islam," he said.
He said in the meeting, Erdogan expressed his hope and prayed for the unity alliance’s success in the six state elections on Aug 12. - BERNAMA