The Foreign Ministry expressed Türkiye's concern over the deaths of people during demonstrations in Bangladesh, which has been experiencing turmoil.

"We have been closely following developments in Bangladesh over the past few weeks. We are deeply saddened by the loss of life in the demonstrations," said a Foreign Ministry statement.

After Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina left the country, President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s office in Bangladesh announced that all political parties had agreed to dissolve Parliament to form a transitional government, as previously announced by military chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman.

Ankara, in the statement, voiced hope that plans for an interim government as announced today will guide the country to elections under the country’s Constitution.

It also underlined Ankara's desire to see that "the elections will contribute to democracy, peace and stability in brotherly Bangladesh."

Bangladesh has been engulfed by protests and violence after student protests last month against reservation quotas in government jobs escalated into a campaign for the ouster of Hasina, who won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition.

About 250 people have been killed and thousands injured in the violence.

Bangladesh and Türkiye have had strong diplomatic and trade relations for centuries, dating back to the late 16th century when Ottoman ports established trade links with Bengal.

The pair are partners under the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the D-8 organization. As part of a bilateral defense cooperation deal, the South Asian country has also purchased the popular Turkish Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles, rocket defense systems and armored vehicles.

The Turkish Embassy in Dhaka opened in 1976, and the Embassy of Bangladesh in Ankara opened in 1981. The latest high-level visit to Bangladesh from Türkiye was former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's visit in December 2017. The same month, President Abdul Hamid met President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the OIC Extraordinary Summit in Istanbul.