Turkish President  Tayyip Erdogan said Qatar’s emir had donated the  747-8 plane, which he said was worth around $500 million, to the Turkish state after hearing that Turkey had expressed interest in buying it, Reuters reported.

“He said, ‘I won’t take money from Turkey. I give this as a present to Turkey’,” Erdogan told reporters on a flight back from Azerbaijan at the weekend.

Erdogan told reporters the plane was being repainted and once it was finished “we will travel with it. But you will be getting on the plane of the Republic of Turkey, not my plane”.