Government urged caution over Nadia el-Nakla’s Turkey trip

Scottish government officials urged caution over Nadia el-Nakla’s trip to Istanbul for a conference on the crisis in the Middle East after she received a formal invitation from the Turkish consulate, documents have shown.

The first minister’s wife visited Turkey in November for the “One Heart for Palestine” event, where she spoke alongside leaders’ spouses from Qatar, Turkmenistan and Libya. el-Nakla was accompanied by an SNP press officer.

The Scottish government insisted at the time that the visit was made in a purely personal capacity after an invitation from Emine Erdogan, the wife of the Turkish president.

However, internal government emails obtained under freedom of information laws show that an invitation to the event, and for a call with Emine Erdogan, was extended on several