The Turkish government paid for the wife of the First Minister to attend a summit in Istanbul, according to the Scottish Government’s latest list of ministers’ interests.
Nadia El-Nakla and an SNP press officer attended Emine Erdoğan’s “United for Peace in Palestine” conference on November 15, following an invitation from the Turkish consulate in Edinburgh.
The Dundee Councillor spoke alongside leaders’ spouses from Qatar, Turkmenistan and Libya.
The new entry in the register does not reveal the value of the trip. It simply states that “the costs of Ms El-Nakla’s travel and local costs were met by the Turkish Government.”
READ MORE: Diplomatic row as Yousaf invites Erdoğan to Scotland
Earlier this month it emerged that Turkey had given Mr Yousaf’s in-laws short-term refugee status to help them escape Gaza.
Last week, The Herald revealed that the First Minister had invited Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Scotland when the two men met at COP28 in December.
He denied that the offer was linked to the help being offered to his wife’s family.
– Erdogan Govt paid for Dundee local councilor and FM’s wife
– Also paid for a press officer to attend
– Told the Foreign Office the trip was in a personal capacity but billed late on as “First Lady of Scotland”, a role which doesn’t exist.
– Signed a declaration as “First Lady of Scotland” on Gaza policy, despite there being no official position on this and there being no oversight of her role.
– Took calls from Erdogans wife on her personal phone
Surely this is a full on resignation issue at this point?
This does seem at best a blatantly hypocritical move considering Yousafs verrrrry vocal stance on a conflict which affects him more personally and at worst a very corrupt move.
So it’s ok for Westminster to send weapons to Israel that they can use to kill Palestinians but it’s not ok for the wife of the first minister of Scotland to attend some event organised by Erdogan and Turkey(who kill Kurds)?
He has to go, he’s a hypocrite.
We’ve just had UK Government ministers visiting Turkey to boost trade ties.
It seems that Turkey is an important market for the UK – supporting thousands of jobs and billions of pounds worth of trade.
I suppose we now need to put all that in the bin.
Cosying up to Erdogan and jaunts for the family. Just as well Humza is shameless or he might be ashamed.
It is deeply hypocritical and disappointing for Yousaf to so openly be seen alongside Erdogan who is also a genocidal dictator.
This is my new favourite non-story.
Wtf this is actually sounding corrupt as fuck.
To anybody at that summit, Scotland was there in an official capacity.
That’s international diplomacy getting carried out off the books, in an unofficial capacity, by a position that doesn’t fucking exist. First Lady!?
This very much looks like leveraging your husband’s position in a quid pro quo relationship with a fucking dictator and involving Scotland as a nation with it.
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Article:
The Turkish government paid for the wife of the First Minister to attend a summit in Istanbul, according to the Scottish Government’s latest list of ministers’ interests.
Nadia El-Nakla and an SNP press officer attended Emine Erdoğan’s “United for Peace in Palestine” conference on November 15, following an invitation from the Turkish consulate in Edinburgh.
The Dundee Councillor spoke alongside leaders’ spouses from Qatar, Turkmenistan and Libya.
The new entry in the register does not reveal the value of the trip. It simply states that “the costs of Ms El-Nakla’s travel and local costs were met by the Turkish Government.”
READ MORE: Diplomatic row as Yousaf invites Erdoğan to Scotland
Earlier this month it emerged that Turkey had given Mr Yousaf’s in-laws short-term refugee status to help them escape Gaza.
Last week, The Herald revealed that the First Minister had invited Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Scotland when the two men met at COP28 in December.
He denied that the offer was linked to the help being offered to his wife’s family.
– Erdogan Govt paid for Dundee local councilor and FM’s wife
– Also paid for a press officer to attend
– Told the Foreign Office the trip was in a personal capacity but billed late on as “First Lady of Scotland”, a role which doesn’t exist.
– Signed a declaration as “First Lady of Scotland” on Gaza policy, despite there being no official position on this and there being no oversight of her role.
– Took calls from Erdogans wife on her personal phone
Surely this is a full on resignation issue at this point?
This does seem at best a blatantly hypocritical move considering Yousafs verrrrry vocal stance on a conflict which affects him more personally and at worst a very corrupt move.
So it’s ok for Westminster to send weapons to Israel that they can use to kill Palestinians but it’s not ok for the wife of the first minister of Scotland to attend some event organised by Erdogan and Turkey(who kill Kurds)?
He has to go, he’s a hypocrite.
We’ve just had UK Government ministers visiting Turkey to boost trade ties.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/business-and-trade-secretary-visits-turkey-to-boost-trade-ties
Part of that is helping them secure finance for high speed rail projects.
https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/uk-government-supporting-1bn-export-finance-for-turkish-high-speed-rail-project-08-01-2024/
It seems that Turkey is an important market for the UK – supporting thousands of jobs and billions of pounds worth of trade.
I suppose we now need to put all that in the bin.
Cosying up to Erdogan and jaunts for the family. Just as well Humza is shameless or he might be ashamed.
It is deeply hypocritical and disappointing for Yousaf to so openly be seen alongside Erdogan who is also a genocidal dictator.
This is my new favourite non-story.
Wtf this is actually sounding corrupt as fuck.
To anybody at that summit, Scotland was there in an official capacity.
That’s international diplomacy getting carried out off the books, in an unofficial capacity, by a position that doesn’t fucking exist. First Lady!?
This very much looks like leveraging your husband’s position in a quid pro quo relationship with a fucking dictator and involving Scotland as a nation with it.
Fuck the Kurds I guess as well.
This is really fucking bad