Ambassador in Turkey asked to report home

In apparent retaliation, Dhaka has called its Ambassador in Ankara Allama Siddiki for consultations, two weeks after Turkey's ambassador to Bangladesh left Dhaka to report home.

On May 12, Turkey asked its envoy Devrim Ozturk to report home for consultations in the aftermath of the execution of convicted war criminal Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami.

“We also called our ambassador in Ankara for consultations,” Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali told journalists yesterday.

Responding to a query about Turkey's outburst after the execution of Nizami and subsequently asking its envoy to report home, he clarified that the Turkish ambassador was not "called back"; he rather went to his country for "consultations" which is normal in diplomatic affairs.

Relations between Bangladesh and Turkey are normal, and there has been no rift, said the foreign minister at a press conference at his ministry.

“They [Turkey] issued [a] statement…yes, they did. What can we do?” he said.

In his instant reaction on May 12, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam had said the media report that “Turkey's envoy has been withdrawn" was not true, and Turkey did not inform Bangladesh about the matter.

However, he added that the Turkish ambassador handed a letter to the foreign ministry, stating that he was going outside Bangladesh for a few days and informed the ministry about who would discharge his duties in his absence.

"This is a usual practice by diplomats. They inform the host country whenever they go out of the country for vacations or any other reasons,” he added.

On May 19, Turkish embassy in Dhaka, amid confusion in the wake of media reports, had said the embassy was open and fully operational.

“Due to the published news that's not based on the factual information in the media, we feel obliged to clarify that Turkish embassy in Dhaka is open and fully operational,” the embassy said in a statement.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Nizami execution.

In 2012, Erdogan's predecessor Abdullah Gul also requested the Bangladesh government not to pursue the trial of war criminals that apparently surprised the Bangladesh government.