Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has defended Foreign Minister Winston Peters - saying he achieved exactly what they aimed for in Turkey.

The Foreign Minister travelled to Istanbul to meet with President Erdogan and leaders of other Islamic countries.

It was thought he would address the Turkish president's use of footage of the Christchurch attack at campaign rallies.

He didn't, but Jacinda Ardern told Mike Hosking that wasn't the purpose of the trip.

"The Deputy Prime Minister's primary focus was not going to the country to raise the issue of the video...it was very much more broadly New Zealand standing with those nations who had expressed concern."

"We were facing a situation where they viewed potential New Zealand as a place that allowed for white supremacy movements to thrive, and threaten directly in the death of 50 members of our Muslim community and that somehow New Zealand could have given support to that. That was what the Deputy Prime Minister was having to go and confront directly, that was the primary focus."

The Prime Minister said Peters was also there to ensure the safety of New Zealanders.

She said that issue was much, much bigger than the video being played.

However, Ardern said she made it very clear that she didn't want the video to be shown at all.

"Our view on the video is clear. We don't think it should be shown at all. It has been altered since the Deputy Prime Minister travelled there but again that's on the margins because we don't want it shown at all."

"We haven't changed our position on it, we have been totally consistent with the video but there were multiple things we were needing to address in Turkey," she said.

The Prime Minister also defended Peters after he was accused of falling asleep during an Islamic Summit in Istanbul.

Peters denied he fell asleep, instead saying he was in a state of "deep contemplation."

Ardern backed this up, saying she has "no reason not to believe" him.

"I have obviously worked alongside him for some time and I have never had the experience that people are accusing him of."

When asked whether Peters was "often in deep contemplation?", Ardern said she has been in numerous meetings with him and has always found him to be "attentive and thoughtful".