YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, ARMENPRESS. Pope Francis received Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Vatican, Reuters reports.

The meeting of Pope Francis and Turkey’s Erdogan lasted nearly an hour.

After the private meeting Pope Francis gave Erdogan a bronze medallion depicting an angel and dragon.

“This is the angel of peace who strangles the demon of war,” the Pope told Erdogan as he gave him the medallion, made by the Italian artist Guido Verol. “(It is) a symbol of a world based on peace and justice.”

The Turkish President’s visit to Italy is accompanied by protests the organizers of which are mainly Kurds. They express their protests against the Turkish military operations in Syria.