Communication equipment brought over from Turkey were used and deployed by Turkish security agency officials who are providing physical protection to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son Necmettin Bilal Erdoğan and former German World Cup footballer Mesut Ozal during their sojourn in Dhaka between February 18 and 19.
The wireless equipment, manufactured by Aselsan, were used in Dhaka after the Bangladesh Army and the Foreign Ministry issued authorisation.
The Turkish security team accompanying the visitors were allowed to use their own communication frequencies for three days. Aselsan A.Ş is a Turkish defense corporation headquartered in Ankara.
Indeed, the 11-member team of Turkish visitors, including Ozal and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan younger son Necmettin Bilal, were issued free of cost visa after their arrival in Dhaka on February 18.
They will leave Bangladesh on Turkish Airlines flight (No. TK-713) on February 20.
Much of Bangladesh, and certainly a section of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, the Jamaat-e-Islami’s students’ wing, was mesmerised by the presence of Germany’s World Cup winning footballer Mesut Ozal after his arrival in Dhaka on February 18.
Ozal is of Turkish stock. His social interactions with the Shibir activists and followers, besides his dialogue with Rohingya refugees at camps in Cox’s Bazar, organised by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency or TIKA, opened a small window to the years of funding that many Turkish NGOs have funnelled into programmes involving the Rohingya.
While Ozal stole the show, what escaped public attention was the arrival in Dhaka of Necmettin Bilal, on February 18. Born in April 1981, Bilal studied in the US and is now active in managing various educational foundations such as the Türgev Foundation.
Accompanied by TIKA President Abdullah Eren, Ozal and Bilal visited the organisation’s project coordination office in Dhaka on February 18. They inaugurated a new medical centre at Dhaka University (TIKA-funded project linked to the Islami Chhatra Shibir).
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Today, the visitors held meetings with Rohingya Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Mizanur Rahman at Cox’s Bazar before taking a tour of the Turkish Field Hospital (Camp 9), Multipurpose Education and Culture Centre (Camp 16) and the El Shifa Model Girls School (Camp 5). Hat
The Bangladesh Army’s General Staff Branch and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence worked to quickly coordinate with the Turkish Military Attache in Dhaka, Colonel Hilmi Baris Yildiz, on February 17 and 18 for smooth conduct of Bilal, Eren and Ozal’s visits and meetings in Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar.
On February 18, Col Yildiz held meetings with Bangladesh Army officers at the Dhaka Cantonment-located Multipurpose Complex, but he was informed that his visit to the high-security area would be restricted and that he would not be able to go to any other locations.
