Juan Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, declared himself the interim president of Venezuela in January as he challenged the legitimacy of Nicolas Maduro’s 2018 re-election. Mr Maduro, a socialist, has called Mr Guaido a puppet of the United States who is attempting to get rid of him in a coup. The US is among a string of countries, including the UK, who have declared their support for Mr Guaido.
But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has since said Turkey is giving Mr Maduro its “continued support”.
At a joint news conference in Turkey with Venezuela’s foreign affairs minister, Jorge Arreaza, he said the country will attempt to deepen cooperation with Venezuela “in all fields”.
He said “it is out of the question for us to see the hardships of the Venezuelan people and not to trade with that country.”
Mr Arreaza said Turkey and Venezuela would “work continuously” to find alternative ways to increase trade.
Turkey is one of Mr Maduro’s biggest supporters, along with Russia, China and Cuba.
But the US and many other nations in Latin America and Europe are instead supporting Mr Guaido.
Meanwhile, Mr Guaido called on his supporters today to continue taking to the streets in protest of power and water shortages.
This follows the government preparing to begin a rationing program.
Many protests took place in the capital Caracas on Monday, with small groups of people blocking roads demanding water be returned after a week of blackouts that have left many areas without electricity.
But things turned nasty when police started firing gunshots after residents set up burning barricades, according to Reuters.
This is the second time the South American country has been hit by blackouts since March 7.
Mr Guaido said on Monday: “Every time the power goes out, or we do not have water, or we do not have gas, guess what we are going to do?”
“We are going to protest, we are going to make demands, we are going to take to the streets of Venezuela, because it is our right.”