Turkistan

Turkey?s region is surrounded by problems and Ankara is striving to maintain peace and prosperity, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an claimed during a visit to Kazakhstan on April 17.

Erdo?an cited the problems of ?Crimean Tatars in Ukraine? and ?deterioration and oppression in Syria,? speaking at the Ahmet Yesevi University in the Kazakh city of Turkistan.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has jokingly ordered his aides to put a drawing of Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdo?an alongside Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, on a painting in which he himself is shown as a towering figure.