ANKARA
Sri Lanka's first-ever ambassador in Turkey has named a newly-propagated orchid species after the Turkish prime minister in a move to show gratitude for Turkey's support to her country.
Bharathi Wijeratne, who has been recently serving as Turkey's honorary consul in Colombo, presented her letter of credentials to the Turkish president on Tuesday.
In an exclusive interview with AA on the first day of her mandate in Turkey, Wijeratne said Sri Lankan-Turkish relations dated back to a documented history of nearly 105 years, recalling the times when the Ottoman Empire had two representations in the country, one office in Colombo and a sub-office in Galle.
"For the last 35 years, the Turkish [honorary] consulate has been in my family. My late father was the Turkish consul general in Sri Lanka for 23 years. He wanted to retire and the Turkish interest in Sri Lanka was looked after by the ambassador accredited from India," she said.
Wijeratne said, upon the proposal of the Turkish ambassador in New Delhi and the approval of the Turkish government, she had been appointed as Turkey's honorary consul general in Sri Lanka in 2000.
Commenting on Sri Lanka's decision to open an embassy in Turkey in a time it is considering to close down a number of its diplomatic missions in Europe, she said, "When you look at Turkey today, its position in the international arena and the way it has stood by Sri Lanka, Turkey has been a friend in deed. The Sri Lankan authorities decided that we have to have direct diplomatic relations".
Wijeratne said the assistance Turkey had extended to Sri Lanka after the massive tsunami disaster of 2004, as well as its support to the country's fight against terrorism had also been influential on such decision.
-New orchid named after Erdogan-
Wijeratne also told the story of her naming a new orchid species, from the Dendrobium family, after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"After the tsunami, when the Turkish prime minister flew in with the biggest tsunami aid we got, I was thinking how I could thank the prime minister and the Turkish nation for their assistance to my country," she said.
The ambassadress said, after talks with a gentleman who propagated orchids and had quite a few new plants, she picked one.
She later learned that the new plant had to be registered with the Royal Agricultural Society in the UK and she had to get permission from the person whose name would be given to it.
Although she wanted to keep it a surprise, Wijeratne contacted the Turkish authorities and got the necessary permission.
She said, during a visit to Turkey afterwards, she broke the news to Prime Minister Erdogan.
"He was surprised and had a delightful smile on his face. He acknowledged it and I promised him that the plant would be brought to Turkey," she said.
"We are now in the process of naming another orchid after Turkish President Abdullah Gul," the ambassadress added.
Reporting by Tugrul Cam
