Humza Yousaf has defended inviting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Scotland.
Broken exclusively by The Herald yesterday, we reported that the offer was made at a controversial meeting between the pair at the COP28 summit in December.
Those talks sparked criticism from within the SNP due to concerns about Mr Erdogan's treatment of Kurds.
Yesterday, Mr Yousaf said that Türkiye is a NATO ally, and that it would be nothing out of the ordinary to invite its president to Scotland if he visited the UK.
The First Minister said he would raise human rights concerns with Mr Erdogan were they to meet in Scotland.
However the invite has been criticised by the SNP's government partners, the Scottish Greens, accused the Turkish regime of "ethnic cleansing of the Kurds", bombing civilians in Syria and Iraq, imprisoning opposition politicians "on nonsense charges" and shutting down independent media and human rights groups.
The Scottish Conservatives also said that the First Minister was "overstepping the mark" and risked increasing the already tense row with the UK Government.
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Read more on this issue:
EXCLUSIVE - Diplomatic row as Yousaf invites Erdoğan to Scotland
Diplomatic row over Erdogan meeting escalates
Yousaf triggered diplomatic row by meeting Turkey's President Erdogan
Brian Wilson: Yousaf was wrong to make himself a useful idiot on world stage
Mr Erdogan made a three-day state visit to the UK in 2018, which included a meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. He also appeared alongside then-Prime Minister Theresa May at a media conference.
Kurdish-born SNP councillor Roza Salih said she was "disgusted" by Mr Yousaf's meeting with Mr Erdogan in December as Turkey had stepped up attacks on Kurdish groups in Syria.
The UK government also threatened to withdraw support for Scottish ministers during overseas visits since no UK official was present.
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