The chief adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made a bizarre claim that some foreign chefs making guest appearances on cooking shows in the country are spies.

Yigit Bulut put forward the suggestion as a guest on pro-government TV channel A Haber on Wednesday.

“For example, I watched a program on a news station the other day,” Bulut said. “An Englishman and an Italian were sampling the tests of Anatolia and traveling to many provinces and villages, cooking food. Do you think they are doing that for their own benefit?” the adviser asked.

He then went on to ask the presenter whether Turkish chefs would do the same abroad, adding that his claim was not an exaggeration or conspiracy theory.

“Have you ever seen a Turk hosting a cooking program on French TV, visiting its provinces, villages and industrial facilities?” Bulut stated before claiming the chefs were “taking advantage of pure-minded Anatolian people” by collecting information on military bases and industrial complexes under the pretense of being featured as part of cooking shows.

“Our people are pure, they are opening their doors to friends,” he added. “They tell all their secrets, they show everything. Where the military unit is, the radar, the ammunition, the weapons warehouse, how to enter and leave the village.”

Bulil is a prominent journalist and has been an adviser to Erdogan since 2013. He was the editor-in chief at Haberturk TV between 2009 and 2012 and Kanal 24 from 2012 to 2013.

His appointment as an adviser to the president was criticized following the 2013 Gezi protests where he alleged foreign powers were trying to kill Erdogan using “telekinesis and other methods.”

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