Turkish PM hails NZ friendship

Recep Tayyip Erdogan inspects a guard of honour at Parliament yesterday. Picture / Mark Mitchell

The relationship between Turkey and New Zealand was an example to the rest of the world, visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday.

"I believe our solidarity from two ends of the world will constitute a very good example to other countries."

Mr Erdogan was speaking at the official lunch at Parliament to mark his visit, the first by a Turkish Prime Minister.

His visit was marked by the presence outside Parliament of about 30 protesters calling for the removal of Turkish troops from Cyprus.

Inside, Mr Erdogan said Turkey and New Zealand had a relationship based on "friendship and respect instead of hostility and hatred from a war that was very bloody but at the same time very heroic".

He said the events at Gallipoli in 1915 were "undeniably important in the formation of the national identities of the two countries".

Prime Minister Helen Clark acknowledged the moves Turkey had made to consult other countries about the plans to cope with the increasing number of visitors to Gallipoli each year.

Later Mr Erdogan told a press conference he would like to develop package tours to Turkey so that people could visit other parts of the country and not just Gallipoli.

Helen Clark said trade between the two countries had never reached its full potential and cited high tariff barriers.

Mr Erdogan and the seven ministers travelling with him were taken to the Cabinet room yesterday to meet New Zealand's cabinet, as well as Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne, both outside the Cabinet.

New Zealand has agreed to support Turkey's bid for a place on the United Nations Security Council in 2009-10 as a gesture of thanks for Turkey supporting New Zealand's successful bid to get Sir Kenneth Keith on to the International Court of Justice.

Negotiations will also begin on a tax agreement to avoid double-taxation, on a working holiday scheme and on ways to encourage more Turkish students to study in New Zealand.

Mr Erdogan, and his scarf-wearing wife, Emine, who are Muslim, were met at Parliament yesterday with a powhiri after visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the National War Memorial.

As a rule she does not accompany her husband to state occasions in Turkey because the wearing of the headscarf is a controversial issue in the secular state.