Erdogan visits tomb of unknown soldier in Poland

By Bahattin Gonultas

WARSAW

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in capital Warsaw on Tuesday.

Erdogan was joined by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik, National Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli, Social Security Minister Julide Sarieroglu and Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci.

Erdogan arrived in Warsaw on Tuesday on a day-long visit aimed at boosting trade.

During the trip, Erdogan held meetings with President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo as well as speakers of both houses of the parliament.

In Warsaw, Erdogan renewed his call for EU’s decision on accession of his country.

Referring to official accession negotiations, which started in 2005, Erdogan said: “I always say this: ‘Let us know if you are not going to accept us. You should not take up our time nor we take up your time. Let's finalize this.’

“They cannot make their decision on this and we are saying: ‘We will not be the one to leave the table.’ We are waiting for their decision.”

Earlier, Erdogan and Duda called for boosting bilateral trade volume with Poland to $10 billion within the next five years.

Both sides also signed five agreements.

Duda will later host an official dinner in honor of Erdogan after which the Turkish president is expected to leave Warsaw.