A VW Beetle and warm welcome in Turkey for world's ‘poorest' president

Uruguay's former president Jose Mujica, dubbed as the world's poorest president for his modest lifestyle, was in Istanbul on Friday for a series of conferences. Though thousands of kilometers away from home, Mujica found an old companion in Istanbul: A Volkswagen (VW) Beetle. Blue, like his vintage Beetle back in Uruguay, the car was allocated to the former president throughout the course of his one-week stay in Turkey by the Republican People's Party (CHP) who invited him to Turkey.

Mujica was surrounded by his Turkish fans as he arrived at the airport and when he visited the Şişli Municipality in Istanbul where he was a guest of the CHP-affiliated mayor. Mujica, who arrived in Istanbul on Thursday with his wife, held his first press conference in Şişli and dispelled some rumors about his humble lifestyle. He denied reports that he would let child refugees from Syria stay at his home in Uruguay. He said the reports were made up, but confirmed that he would leave all his assets to "kids in his neighborhood so that they would help other children when they grow up."

Mujica, 80, who governed Uruguay from 2010 to 2015, will also attend book signings for his biography, "A Black Sheep to Power," penned by two journalists documenting his rise in politics after years as a guerilla leader and being in prison. After he was elected president, Mujica chose to live in a humble farm he owned instead of taking residence at the presidential palace, and had donated almost all of his salary to charities. The VW Beetle, which has been a symbol of his humble lifestyle, was his only valuable asset according to a personal wealth declaration he made in 2010.