ANKARA, Turkey — British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Monday visited a refugee camp near Turkey’s border with Syria ahead of talks with Turkish officials.
Johnson toured a nursery and school and chatted with Syrian refugee families at the camp in the town of Nizip. He later watched a group of Syrians who were trained in detecting and disposing of improvised explosive devices display their skills on an empty field near the camp, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Johnson, who has Turkish ancestry, is on a three-day visit to Turkey and is later expected to travel to Ankara for talks with Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The visit is Johnson’s first to Turkey as foreign secretary.
In May, the former mayor of London won a British magazine prize for writing a vulgar poem mocking Erdogan. British officials said Johnson was expected to receive “a warm welcome” in Turkey despite the controversy caused by the poem.
Turkey is home to an estimated 3 million refugees.
