Scottish Government warned first minister's wife Nadia El-Nakla on Gaza event in Turkey

Nadia El-Nakla attended the ‘One Heart for Palestine’ event in Istanbul after receiving a formal invitation from the Turkish consulate

Councillor Nadia El-Nakla, wife of First Minister Humza Yousaf. Image: Jane Barlow/Press Association.

Scottish Government officials warned the first minister’s wife to be cautious about a trip to Turkey to attend an event on the crisis in Gaza.

Nadia El-Nakla attended the “One Heart for Palestine” conference in November after receiving a formal invitation from the Turkish consulate.

At the event in Istanbul she was accompanied by an SNP press officer and spoke alongside leaders’ spouses from Qatar, Turkmenistan and Libya.

The government insisted at the time this trip was done purely in a personal capacity after receiving an invitation from the Turkish president’s wife Emine Erdoğan.

However The Times now reports internal government emails show the invitation to the event and for a call with Ms Erdoğan were extended on several occasions.

The Turkish consulate-general approached the Scottish Government’s external affairs department at the beginning of November to arrange a call between Ms Erdoğan and Ms El-Nakla, where she invited the first minister’s wife to a meeting on the crisis in Gaza.

The head of European relations at the Scottish Government wrote to First Minister Humza Yousaf and External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson recommending a “holding response” to the invitation while “officials seek further information about the event from the Turkish consulate-general”.

The following day Mr Yousaf responded saying his wife “should absolutely do the call”, but agreed further information on the event was needed.

One week before the conference Ms Erdoğan rang Ms El-Nakla on her personal phone, meaning no official listened in and Ms El-Nakla was given no prior briefing.

Days later Mr Robertson’s office received a letter from the Turkish consulate and Mr Yousaf’s principal private secretary replied to say: “Please be advised that the first minister’s wife intends to take up the invitation to attend the event in Turkey in a personal capacity.

“The invitation is therefore not to be managed in a government space.

“Can you let me know if you are still receiving approaches from the consulate?”

The UK Foreign Office in London was informed of the invitation, but decided “no official assistance” would be given as Ms El-Nakla was attending in a personal capacity.

This comes after Mr Yousaf was criticised for inviting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Scotland after meeting with him in Dubai at the COP28 climate summit.

The meeting sparked anger over the president’s human rights record, and with UK Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron as no UK government official was present.

Ms El-Nakla’s family spent almost a month trapped in Gaza when the Israel-Hamas war broke out, but were able to escape through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt, which Turkey helped to facilitate.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “The Scottish Government was not represented at the meeting in Istanbul hosted by the first lady of Turkey.

“The first minister’s wife attended the meeting in a personal capacity.”