Yiğit Bulut, a close aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has revealed that the president asked for the removal of historical French statues during a visit to Africa.
Speaking on the state-run TRT on Saturday, Bulut talked about the importance of the African continent and how differently Turkey approaches the continent when compared to the European countries that he said aimed to exploit its resources.
“When we go to Africa, we are not going there like Holland, when we go there, we don’t go there like France. Mr. President told [locals] during a visit [to Africa], ‘remove those French statues, throw them away,'” Bulut said in televised remarks.
President Erdoğan, who frequently visits African countries, paid a three-day trip to the region last week as a part of which he visited Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar.