‘May God lead him back to the right way,’ says Turkish PM on Boris Johnson

ISTANBUL

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said he wishes newly-appointed British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson would be “led back to the right way” after his controversial references to Turkey during the recent referendum campaign to leave the EU.

In an interview with the BBC’s HARDtalk program, Yıldırım said Johnson should make an effort to have good relations with Turkey.

“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,” he said when asked about the former London mayor’s references to Turkey during the Brexit campaign. 

Johnson was criticized for using Turkey and the country’s EU accession process during the campaign.

Meanwhile, a senior Turkish official told Reuters that Ankara was expecting a more positive attitude from Johnson given his new responsibilities.

The official also defined Johnson’s negative statements about Erdoğan and Turkey as unacceptable.

Johnson had previously drawn an angry reaction from Turkey in April after penning a poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for an “offensive poetry competition” for the British political magazine The Spectator.