Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was in London on Sunday to campaign for the Turkish governing party before expatriates vote this weekend.
Mr Çavuşoğlu, Turkey’s foreign minister, appealed particularly to Kurdish voters, who he described as “conservative, and religious”. In a reference to the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP), he said they had no reason to vote for a “Marxist, Leninist ideology”.
Speaking at an event organised by the Union of European Turkish Democrats, he said he came bringing the greetings and good wishes of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ahmet Davutoğlu, the prime minister.
He said: “We are working for justice, peace and brotherhood in our region and the world. This is not easy, because you see countries without an administration when you look at our region. May God never turn leave country or nation without a government.
PRIDE IN COUNTRY
“There is one country that is standing tall in this difficult geographical environment, and that is the Republic of Turkey.”
Touching on developments over the last thirteen years of AK Party government, Mr Çavuşoğlu said Turkey was a similar country just fifteen years ago.
But he added: “Thank goodness the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish nation was able to stand up again and you, as our citizens living abroad, are now proud of the Republic of Turkey. You do not feel subjugated.
“You do not feel shame carrying your Turkish passport with the star and crescent, and no-one makes a mockery of your money.”
HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENTS
The foreign minister recounted the story of a British youth who fell off a motorcycle in the southern town of Antalya. He was visited by the then-prime minister Erdoğan and asked him whether the youth wanted to send a message to then-British prime minister Tony Blair, who he was due to visit in a few days.
Mr Çavuşoğlu said the episode indicated the dramatic improvement in Turkish healthcare services, recounting: “‘Yes,’ the boy said, ‘tell him that he should make Briatin’s hospitals like those here’.”
The foreign minister, who is stepping down at this election, urged Turkish passport holders in the UK to support the AK Party at the upcoming election.