Turkey has announced increased bilateral relations between her and Gambia, a country in West Africa. The cooperation is especially in the military front as echoed by Col. Nihat Akturk, who is also a Turkish military adviser to the Gambian president.
Turkey and the Gambia have longstanding cooperation, particularly in military and security sectors since the establishment of the Turkish Gendarmerie Training Team for the Gambian military in February 1991 that expired in 2007 having trained at least 7000 soldiers.
However, After the expiry of the training agreement between two countries in 2007, Gambian troops started receiving training in Turkey and since then around 500 Gambian soldiers have visited Turkey for training.
Earlier this year, Turkey donated military equipment to the Gambian army which has around 8,000 troops. The equipment includes 5,000 sets of uniforms, 6,000 pairs of combat boots, 1,359 cartridges and belts, 5,000 water bottles, 50 five-man tents, 50 pieces of 20-man tents and several other military items.
Turkey has reaffirmed that it will intensify its support to the Gambian security forces in the areas of training and logistics to enhance their operational and military capabilities.
