British royal couple's Turkey tour comes to an end

Britian's royal couple, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, ended their 4-day visit to Turkey on Friday departing from the capital, Ankara's Esenboga International Airport at 1:30 p.m. (1130 GMT).

The royal couple attended on Friday the queen's birthday reception held at the British Embassy in Ankara ahead of their departure from Turkey.

The reception was attended also by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, British State Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband, as well as their wifes and several other high level Turkish officials.

Queen Elizabeth and Erdogan had a brief meeting at the reception, officials told the Anatolian Agency.

The queen held talks and visited several sites in the Turkish provinces of Ankara, Istanbul and Bursa during her stay in Turkey.

During the visit, which began on Tuesday, the 82-year-old monarch, praised the close ties between Ankara and London, and underlined Britain's support for the Turkey's bid to join the European Union.

She visited the tomb of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Ankara and toured historical sites and museums in the northwestern city of Bursa and Istanbul.

In Bursa, she also visited an ancient mosque and listened to a reading of verses from the Koran, Islam's holy book.

It was the queen's second visit to Turkey after a first trip in 1971.

Photo. AFP