'Ottoman' Boris Johnson makes first visit to Turkey since Erdogan poem

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Monday kicked off his first official visit to Ankara by highlighting his "proud ownership" of a Turkish washing machine and steered clear of his past prize-winning insults of President Tayyip Erdogan.

 

Johnson, the former mayor of London, was named in May as the winner of the Spectator magazine's "President Tayyip Erdogan Offensive Poetry competition" for a five-line entry that involved the Turkish president, wild oats and a goat.

 

Two months later, Prime Minister Theresa May tapped Johnson as foreign secretary, prompting concern about a rift with Ankara. A senior Turkish official said at the time Turkey would draw a line under Johnson's past comments, but warned relations would be damaged if he repeated such insults - a message the foreign secretary seems to have taken to heart.

 

"We are happy in the United Kingdom to be one of the biggest recipients of Turkish goods. I am the proud owner of a digital, very well functioning Turkish washing machine," Johnson told reporters at a news conference in Ankara on Monday, as Turkish EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik sat smiling next to him.

 

He said he saw a new partnership between the two countries following the Brexit vote, where the United Kingdom opted to leave the European Union and in which Johnson played a key role.

 

Celik hailed the Oxford-educated former journalist's Turkish roots, referring to him as an "Ottoman" and a strong supporter of Turkey in the aftermath its failed July 15 coup.

 

Johnson's great-grandfather was an opposition figure in the late Ottoman period and was lynched during Turkey's War of Independence in the early 1920s.

 

Johnson said he hoped British tourists - who traditionally flock to Turkey's Mediterranean beaches in the summer - "behaved themselves" in the country.

 

He is due to meet President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.