Turkey’s top diplomat meets Algerian premier in Algiers

By Ahmet Furkan Mercan

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met on Tuesday with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad in Algiers, the capital of the North African country.

On the final day of a two-day visit, Cavusoglu also met with his Algerian counterpart Sabri Boukadoum and congratulated him for his post in the new government, formed Sunday in the wake of December elections.

Pointing to the importance of Turkish-Algerian cooperation, Cavusoglu said: “It is time to develop bilateral relations in many areas, including the economy.”

Turkey’s top diplomat also stressed the importance of cooperation on regional issues, saying: “There are developments concerning our two countries. If we work together, we have confidence that we will bring peace and stability,”

Though there was no mention of Algeria's eastern neighbor, it shares a 989-kilometer (615-mile) border with Libya, which has been wracked by civil war.

Last week Turkey’s parliament passed a motion allowing it to send troops as military aid to Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), which has been besieged by forces of Khalifa Haftar, a warlord based in eastern Libya.