Yousaf denies Erdogan invitation was linked to family’s Gaza ordeal
HUMZA YOUSAF has defended inviting Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Scotland and denied that the offer was linked to Turkey helping his wife’s family flee Gaza.
A read-out of the talks released under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request disclosed that the First Minister extended the invitation to the Turkish president during a controversial meeting at the Cop28 summit in December.
Mr Erdogan has faced criticism over his government’s crackdown on the country’s Kurdish community and curbs on judicial independence, freedom of speech and women’s rights.
Thousands of people have been charged and sentenced over the crime of insulting him.
But Mr Yousaf argued that Turkey was a Nato ally and pledged to raise human rights concerns if the president accepted his invitation.
Asked if the invite was linked to the Erdogan government’s decision to give his wife’s family short-term refugee status, Mr Yousaf simply replied: “No.”
Mr Erdogan’s side of the conversation was redacted in the FOI response as the Scottish Government argued that disclosing it could “prejudice substantially relations between the United Kingdom and any other state”.
However, the read-out suggested the Turkish president asked about them as Mr Yousaf replied “that it had been a frightening time given the lack of communication but they were now safe at home and recovering”.
Nadia El-nakla, the First Minister’s wife, disclosed last week that her sisterin-law and their four children had escaped from Gaza after an intervention by the Turkish government before Christmas.
In November, she attended a United for Peace in Palestine summit in Istanbul organised by Emine Erdogan, the president’s wife, with the spouses of leaders.
Mr Yousaf instigated the meeting with Mr Erdogan at Cop28, which was held in the UAE, despite him previously calling Israel a “terror state” and Hamas a “liberation group”.
After the talks, he posted a picture on social media of himself shaking hands with Mr Erdogan alongside a message advocating for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire now”. This was not UK government policy.
The Foreign Secretary accused the First Minister last month of reneging on an agreement to have a UK diplomat present and argued it was crucial “that we speak with one voice to the international community”. Foreign affairs are reserved to Westminster.
The read-out of the meeting, sent to the British embassy in Dubai, said: “FM mentioned he was last in Turkey during Ramadan in 2022 and invited RTE [Erdogan] to visit Scotland during a future visit to the UK. FM noted that their wives had met during the recent First Ladies and Spouses of Leaders Summit on Gaza in Turkey.”
Mr Yousaf told reporters at Holyrood: “I said the next time he’s in the United Kingdom why not come up to Scotland.”
He added: “Why on earth would Scotland not look to seek to engage with a Nato ally?”
Human Rights Watch has said that Mr Erdogan’s “authoritarian and highly centralised” government has set back Turkey’s “human rights record by decades”.