Kadurugamuwa presents credentials as Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Türkiye

Tuesday, 21 October 2025 06:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Republic of Türkiye Niluka Kadurugamuwa, presented his Letters of Credence to the President of the Republic, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at a formal ceremony held at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on 16 October.

President Erdoğan, extending a warm welcome to Ambassador Kadurugamuwa, conveyed his best wishes for a successful tenure and expressed confidence that the new Ambassador’s leadership will further strengthen the long-standing friendship between Sri Lanka and Türkiye. The Turkish President also conveyed his warm greetings to President Anura Kumara Disanayaka.

During the meeting that followed the Credentials ceremony, President Erdoğan expressed keen interest in exploring ways and means to enhance trade, economic and investment cooperation between the two countries. He also referred to Türkiye’s educational and scholarship programmes that are beneficial to Sri Lanka and highlighted the growing prospects for defence industry collaboration as well.

Ambassador Kadurugamuwa conveyed the warm greetings of President Anura Kumara Disanayaka to President Erdoğan, and expressed appreciation for Türkiye’s continued friendship and support extended towards Sri Lanka. The Ambassador reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s commitment to advancing cooperation with Türkiye across political, economic, educational and cultural spheres, and emphasized the importance of strengthening trade and investment cooperation as well as people-to-people connectivity.

The Ambassador was accompanied to the Credentials ceremony by his spouse and senior diplomatic officers of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Ankara.

On 17 October, as part of diplomatic protocol, Ambassador Kadurugamuwa paid solemn tribute at the Anıtkabir, the Mausoleum of the Republic’s founder Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and signed the Official Guest Book at the Misak-ı Milli Tower, honouring Atatürk’s enduring legacy as a visionary statesman, reformer, and symbol of human progress.

Ambassador Niluka Kadurugamuwa is a career diplomat with over two decades of service in the Sri Lanka Foreign Service. Immediately prior to his appointment as Ambassador to Türkiye, he served as Director General of the South Asia and SAARC Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, and earlier as the Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in New Delhi from 2019-2023. His other diplomatic assignments include the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York, and the Embassies of Sri Lanka in Rome and Bangkok.

Ambassador Kadurugamuwa holds two Master’s degrees from the Universities of Kelaniya and Colombo, having graduated from the former with First Class Honours. He speaks English and Hindi fluently and has an elementary knowledge in Italian.

An accomplished literary translator, he has translated several major works of world literature into Sinhala, including Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red, Isabel Allende’s Island Beneath the Sea, and Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace. He has thrice won the State Literary Award for Best Translation of a Novel.

Ambassador Kadurugamuwa is a past student of the Bandarawela Central College.