Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's wife, Emine Erdogan, paid a private visit to Rhodopi on Sunday, accompanied by Turkish state minister Egemen Bagis and AKP candidate MP Mehmet Muezinoglu, who comes from the region.

Mrs. Erdogan visited the Kikidio settlement in Komotini, where she attended a Koran reading competition, then went to Filyrra for the circumcision ceremony of two grandsons of minority MP Ahmet Sadik, who died in a traffic accident in June 1991.

She is also due to visit the Turkish consulate in Komotini and meet with minority officials before returning home.

Greek government spokesman and Rhodopi MP Yiorgos Petalotis, also on a visit to Komotini, declined comment on Mrs. Erdogan's visit, as it was a private visit, and noted that everyone desiring so was welcome to visit Thrace as tourists, adding that the region has need of tourism.