Ankara, Dec 13 (CTK special correspondent) – Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek condemned the July attempted military coup in his speech in the Turkish parliament on Tuesday.
With its historical experience, it is vital for the Czech Republic that its allies should have freedom and democracy just like the Czech Republic itself, Zaoralek said.
In the parliament building, he symbolically lit up the new chandeliers the Czech Republic has donated to Turkey as a replacement for those destroyed during the failed coup.
“In the Czech Republic, the periods in which we had real freedom and democracy were relatively rare in the 20th century,” Zaoralek said.
“This is why we highly esteem the fact that we can freely look for a way into the future,” Zaoralek said.
“It is of momentous importance for us that in our allied countries, too, there should be a similar democratic and free approach,” he added.
He transported the new chandeliers from the glassworks in north Bohemia as a symbolic gift with which the Czech Republic wanted to show that it rejected the attempted coup.
“When we learnt that the chandeliers were destroyed, it soon occurred to us that with this gesture we should make it clear that we are on your side,” Zaoralek said.
“I am glad that this has succeeded, that we lit it up here. I am proud of this. This is better than if I only told you that I am on your side,” he added.
The original chandeliers were made in the glassworks in Kamenicky Senov, north Bohemia.
Czechoslovakia donated them to the Turkish parliament in 1958.
This year, the Czech Republic donated 15 new chandeliers to Turkey and had another ten reconstructed. The total value of the gift was 1.5 million crowns.
