British FM due to visit Ankara for solidarity after failed coup

ANKARA

AFP Photo

British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is to visit Ankara between Sept. 25-27 to express solidarity after the failed July 15 coup, according to a written statement issued by Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sept. 25. 

Johnson will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik while in the Turkish capital.

He will also visit the parliament compound to see the damage inflicted during the coup attempt.  
Regional and international issues, as well as opportunities to enhance cooperation between Turkey and Britain, will be considered at the talks, read the statement.

The visit comes after Johnson made a series of controversial references to Turkey during the recent referendum campaign in the U.K. to leave the EU. He also raised eyebrows in April after writing a crude poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for an “offensive poetry competition” run by the British political magazine The Spectator.

Speaking about Johnson’s performance during the Brexit campaign, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said in July that he wishes the recently appointed foreign minister would be “led back to the right way.”

“What can I say to him? May God lead him back to the right way. God willing, he will not make such mistakes from now on and he will endeavor to win the hearts of Turks,” Yıldırım said at the time.