Meryem Göktaş
09 October 2018•Update: 09 October 2018
By Merve Yildizalp and Mehmet Tosun
BUDAPEST
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday inaugurated the restored tomb of Gul Baba in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
Highlighting of the historic tomb, Erdogan said his visit was not only important in terms of the relations between the two countries but also to show the deep-rooted Turkish-Hungarian friendship with the inauguration of the symbolic tomb.
Erdogan said the tomb reminds its visitors of "mutual respect, understanding friendship among different cultures".
"Hopefully, the Gul Baba tomb with his spiritual legacy will continue to be the sign of friendship for the two countries over the next centuries," he said.
The Turkish president recalled the Gul Baba tomb is just one of many examples of common historical and cultural heritage in Hungary which represents the friendship, solidarity and common history of the two countries.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, for his part, thanked the Turkish president for his interest in the restoration of the tomb and said Turkey and Hungary jointly restore the tomb.
The Ottoman-era tomb was built between 1543 and 1548 in Budapest.
Gul Baba -- which means Father of Roses -- was an Ottoman Bektashi dervish poet and a companion of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent.
The tomb was restored by a Turkish-Hungarian partnership after a protocol was signed in 2014.
