Erdogan cancels visit to Glasgow climate conference

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cancelled his planned attendance at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow and returned to Turkey from Rome, because Ankara's security protocol standards were not met.

"We had security protocol standards requested for the UN Leaders' Summit on Climate Change held in Glasgow. However, we were told that these could not be met at the last moment," Erdogan told journalists on the plane returning from Italy where he met US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made efforts to solve the problem, but Glasgow was "making difficulties", he noted.

Erdogan added that they had learned that the rejected protocol standards requested by Turkey "could be provided exceptionally for another country," and "it did not conform to diplomatic customs", reports Xinhua news agency.

"Ultimately, it wasn't just about our security, it was about the reputation of our country," Erdogan stated.

Turkish Parliament last month ratified the Paris Climate Agreement weeks before the UN climate conference - IANS