Turkey's Erdogan visits Venezuela, vows to enhance ties

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his will to build strong relations with Venezuela and expressed hope that high-level visits "will increasingly continue."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives military honours upon his arrival at Miraflores Palace, next to Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, his wife Emine Erdogan, and President Maduro's wife Cilia Flores, in Caracas, Venezuela on December 3, 2018.
Reuters

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives military honours upon his arrival at Miraflores Palace, next to Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, his wife Emine Erdogan, and President Maduro's wife Cilia Flores, in Caracas, Venezuela on December 3, 2018.

Turkey is determined to carry bilateral relations with Venezuela one step further, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.

"We resolve to preserve the momentum we have achieved over the past two years and to enhance our relations further," Erdogan said at a news conference alongside his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro in the capital Caracas.

Erdogan reiterated that he is the first Turkish president to pay a visit to Venezuela.

"We hope that high-level visits between [officials of] the two countries will increasingly continue," he added.

Erdogan also said Turkey plans to build a mosque in Caracas at Venezuela's request.

The president added that Venezuela handed over two schools affiliated with the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) -- the terrorist group behind the 2016 attempted coup in Turkey -- to a Turkish education body.

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