ANKARA // British foreign secretary Boris Johnson visited a refugee camp in Turkey on Monday during his first trip to the country since leading the successful "Brexit" campaign that played on anti-Turkish sentiment.
Mr Johnson toured a nursery and school and chatted with Syrian refugee families at the camp in the town of Nizip, near the Syrian border. He later watched a group of Syrians who were trained in detecting and disposing of improvised explosive devices display their skills on an empty field near the camp, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Mr Johnson, who has Turkish ancestry, is on a three-day visit to Turkey, his first as foreign secretary.
The campaign for Britain to leave the European Union repeatedly raised the spectre of millions of Turks being free to live in Britain as a reason to pull out of the 28-nation bloc.
But on Monday, at the start of a meeting with Turkey's EU affairs minister Omer Celik, Mr Johnson said Britain would continue to support Turkey's bid to join the bloc even after the UK itself leaves.
And he had kind words for Turkish-made goods.
"We are lucky in the United Kingdom to be one of the biggest recipients of Turkish goods," said the former London mayor.
"I am certainly the proud possessor of a beautiful, very well functioning Turkish washing machine."
Mr Celik, meanwhile, hailed Mr Johnson's Turkish roots, referring to him as an "Ottoman" and a strong supporter of Turkey in the aftermath of its failed coup on July 15.
But, while Mr Celik said Turkey respected Britain's decision to leave the EU, he criticised the "anti-Turkish rhetoric" that emerged during the campaign.
"We have to close this ugly parenthesis and look to the future," he said.
Mr Johnson is expected to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.
It comes just four months after Mr Johnson won a British magazine prize for writing a vulgar poem mocking Mr Erdogan.
* Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse
http://ift.tt/2cx4I2v
3Novices Europe
No comments:
Post a Comment