Bangladesh Army Chief visits Turkiye amid growing Ankara-Islamabad-Dhaka defence nexus

New Delhi: Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman is on a five-day official visit to Turkiye, seeking to expand military training partnerships and technology exchanges between the two countries.

He is also exploring local military hardware, including artillery systems and drones, according to people familiar with the matter. He will tour several defence facilities to gain first-hand knowledge of the country's military technology and local production, they said. The trip comes after Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan's visit to Dhaka last month, which signalled Turkiye's efforts to widen its presence in South Asia.

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During Fidan's visit, the two sides decided to form a joint committee at the level of defence and foreign ministers to strengthen political and defence cooperation. They also decided to hold an annual meeting at the foreign minister level to strengthen strategic relations.

Turkiye, which supplied Bangladesh with military hardware in the past, has been seeking to upgrade defence and strategic partnership between the two sides since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime in August 2024. The Pakistan Army has extended tacit support to this initiative.