CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

FOREIGN AFFAIRS – TURKEY - 10 January 2017

FOREIGN AFFAIRS – TURKEY - 10 January 2017

Dr Julian Lewis: Does the Foreign Secretary share the concern on both sides of the House at President Erdogan’s latest power grab, following the retrograde steps he has already taken to Islamise a formerly secular Turkish society?

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Boris Johnson): It is very important to recognise that the Turkish state – the Turkish Government – was the victim of a violent attempted coup in which hundreds of people died. It was entirely wrong of many Governments in the EU instantly to condemn Turkey for its response rather than to see that, again, there is a balance to be struck. Turkey is vital for our collective security; the last thing we need to do is to push it away and push it into a corner.]