Saudi Arabia Erdoğan’s top destination in foreign visits

ANKARA

AFP photo

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made 86 foreign visits since August 2014 when he came to the country’s top seat, with Saudi Arabia being his top destination, according to information gathered by the state-run Anadolu Agency. 

The president went to Saudi Arabia for five times, as he also visited Qatar and Kuwait in the Middle East for three times each. He has also been in in Bahrain and Jordan as the president. 

Erdoğan went to Russia for four times amid a turbulence in relations after the downing of a Russian jet in on Turkish soil October 2015, before the ties normalized starting from the summer of 2016.

Europe topped Erdoğan’s list of visited continents as he went to 16 European countries for 21 times in total between Aug. 28, 2014 and Aug. 10 2017. 

He visited Turkey’s historic allies Turkish Cyprus, Azerbaijan and Pakistan, for three times each. He also visited China, France and Belgium for thee times. 

The president also visited the U.S. Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Japan, India, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Chili, Peru and Ecuador. He went to 15 African countries. 

Erdoğan’s travel schedule inside the country was also busy as he visited 65 Turkish provinces out of 81 for 147 times in total, the information showed.