Addressing the businessmen who joined his tour of South America, Erdoğan said, "visit to Argentina was planned before. Related ministries of the two countries agreed to build a bust of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Republic of Turkey, in Buenos Aires. There were serious efforts by Armenian lobby in Buenos Aires in the past 2-3 days and it was stated that there was around 200,000 Armenian population. The Armenians put an intensive pressure. There is an autonomous administration there. The incident does not depend on the central administration."
He said, "Argentine president called me and said they could not change the situation there. We told her that it was impossible for us to pay a visit to Argentina. They have offered us alternatives. We made assessments and removed Argentina from the program."
Erdoğan was scheduled to pay a two-day visit to Argentina on May 30 and 31. The bust of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of Turkey, would be inaugurated at Jorge Newbury park during Erdoğan's visit.
