CARACAS
Reporting by Mehmet Toroglu / Bariskan Unal
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said that the death of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez shook Latin America.
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency (AA) in Caracas where he arrived to attend the funeral of Chavez, Besir Atalay indicated that Venezuelan officials were highly pleased to see high level participation of Turkey in the funeral.
"We had a short conversation with the Venezuelan Vice-President Nicolas Maduro who took oath today as the temporary President. We offered our condolences to Maduro. In a general sense, we tried to represent Turkey's presence here in the most effective way. This visit was highly important for our future relations," Atalay emphasized.
Latin America follows closely Turkey's principled policies, Atalay stressed.
We would like more trade and investments with Venezuela, Atalay noted.
Congratulating the AA for successfully covering Chavez's funeral, Atalay underlined that the AA was one of Turkey's windows opening to the outside world.
