President Erdoğan ponders giving lion cubs presented to him in Africa as gift to grandchildren

Hande Fırat - ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he hesitated to give three lion cubs, presented to him during his official visit to African countries, as a gift to his grandchildren, after his son-in-law and Economy Minister Berat Albayrak noted they might be “dangerous.”

“Two of the lion cubs are one year old. One of them is female and the other is male. The third one is eight months old. I wondered for a moment whether my grandchildren wanted them and asked Berat [Albayrak] to tell them about it. My grandson first said no but later started to change his mind. But Berat rightly then said this might be dangerous,” Erdoğan told reporters while returning from his three-day official visit to Sudan, Chad and Tunisia.

"As a result the lion cubs will be sent to Gaziantep. The Gaziantep Municipality has a very big zoo. I called [Gaziantep Mayor] Fatma [Şahin] and she said ‘I will send my personnel to directly bring the cubs to Gaziantep.’ God willling, the three cubs will now take their place in the Gaziantep Zoo,” he said.

Erdoğan added that gazelles were similarly gifted to him during the visit and he would also be bringing them to Turkey.