President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented a locally-made Togg electric vehicle to his Kyrgyz host Sadyr Japarov on Tuesday in Bishkek as the latter gifted the Turkish leader a horse. This is the second horse gift to Erdoğan from Kyrgyzstan, but it was the first time a Kyrgyz leader will grace a Togg, Türkiye’s first state-sponsored domestic EV, which debuted last year.
Erdoğan was in Kyrgyzstan to sign major cooperation deals to boost bilateral ties between the two Turkic countries and attend Wednesday’s Organization of Turkic States (OTS) summit.
After their meeting and a series of events where they opened a hospital and attended a strategic cooperation council convention, Erdoğan and Japarov indulged in some personal time as they exchanged gifts. Erdoğan handed the keys of a “Pamukkale white” Togg, which takes its color from eponymous travertines in western Türkiye and rode shotgun with the Kyrgyz leader. “You see, it is completely quiet,” Erdoğan told Japarov as he gave a ride to the visiting Turkish leader. “This comes in the color my brother (Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov, leader of Turkmenistan) likes most,” Erdoğan said, telling Japarov that a fellow Turkic leader had a Togg in the same color. Berdymuhammedov is known for his peculiar admiration of whites and his overhaul of Ashgabat, which used predominantly white architecture. “This is beautiful. Thank you. May Allah bless you. This is a great gift for me,” Japarov told Erdoğan.
As Erdoğan and first lady Emine Erdoğan visited a traditional Kyrgyz yurt in Bishkek, it was Japarov’s turn for gifting. The Kyrgyz leader presented a horse to the couple. The president and first lady fed the unnamed horse with carrots and apples. The president received another horse as a gift from Kyrgyzstan in 2022 during the World Nomad Games held in northwestern Türkiye.
