Turkey’s Erdogan caps Gulf tour with Umrah pilgrimage

By Ilkay Guder

MECCA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan performed the Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia late Wednesday upon the conclusion of a five-day tour of the Gulf that also brought him to Bahrain and Qatar.

Following a visit to Qatar on Wednesday, Erdogan returned briefly to Saudi Arabia, where he first paid a visit to Prophet Muhammad’s Mosque in Medina before performing the Umrah in Mecca.

He was accompanied on the pilgrimage by his wife, Emine; Turkish Army Chief-of-Staff Hulusi Akar; Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci; Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak; and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan.

Erdogan arrived in Doha late Tuesday for talks with Qatari officials before returning to Saudi Arabia, which he had visited earlier in the week, one day later.