EFE/Turkish

Erdogan at a ruling party congress in March 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/TURKISH PRESIDENT PRESS OFFICE.

Turkish public broadcaster TRT reported that Erdogan will also open a mosque in Sarajevo's old town that was restored by Turkish General Directorate for Foundations.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (2-R) and his wife cheer supporters at the Congress of the ruling AKP, in Ankara, March 24, 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/TURKISH PRESIDENT PRESS OFFICE

He also called on companies to repartriate their assets from abroad for the same reason.

A picture of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaking at the National Space Program introductory meeting in Ankara, February 9, 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/TURKISH PRESIDENT PRESS OFFICE

The space programme includes ambitious plans to send astronauts to the moon, establish a spaceport and create a global brand in satellite technology - all in the next 10 years.

Critics of the AKP and its leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, say they are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to exact political revenge for the party's loss of most major cities in Turkey to the opposition in last year's local elections.

Erdogan, they say, is determined to prevent the likes of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu from making further gains.

The opposition coalition, led by the Republican People's Party (CHP), won in Turkey's three most important metropolitan areas: Ankara, Izmir, and Istanbul.