FIRST Minister Humza Yousaf has said he is “not going to stop meeting with world leaders” after being criticised by an SNP councillor for shaking hands with the Turkish president.
Kurdish-born SNP councillor Roza Salih said she was “disappointed and disgusted” after Yousaf met Recipp Tayyip Erdogan at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.
Salih (below), a councillor in Glasgow, came to Scotland from Iraq as a child seeking asylum and was a key figure in a campaign against dawn raids used to remove refugees who had been refused asylum.
In a social media post, Salih criticised her party leader about a picture of him shaking the hand of the Turkish president.
She wrote: “I am disappointed and disgusted by this image @HumzaYousaf
“Erdogan kills #Kurds in Turkey & does not respect human rights.
“Our politicians & half of the population are imprisoned by him and you shake his hand.
“I did not expect this from a FM that says he respects human rights.”
Questioned on her criticism, Yousaf said: “Look, I am rightly as the First Minister of Scotland going to meet world leaders.
“I’m going to meet heads of government, and of course push them to go further on climate change and I was also pushing many of the world leaders on our position that there should be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza given the horrific destruction and death that we’re seeing there.
“So, as First Minister, I am not going to stop meeting with world leaders, it’s very important as First Minister that I do that.”
In his social media post about the meeting, Yousaf said he spoke to Erdogan and Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, about the climate crisis and the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
