A recent retweet by United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan bearing accusations against Ottomans during World War I and linking it to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has once again strained ties with Ankara.
President Erdogan touched on the subject in his speech at local mukhtars meeting on Wednesday in the Presidential Palace Complex in Ankara. President said “It’s no wonder the ones sided with cruels targeted Medina Defence and its great hero, Fahrettin Pasha (an Ottoman military governor of Medina who served from 1916 to 1919).
Erdoğan harshly criticized the UAE and Nahyan, asking “While Fahreddin was conducting the defense of Medina, you, the miserable one slandering us, where were your ancestors?”
Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın on Tuesday also slammed the post, describing it as “a propaganda lie that seeks to turn Turks and Arabs against one another”.