ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit back on
Wednesday at the United Arab Emirates foreign minister over a social
media post that accused “Erdogan’s ancestors” of kidnapping people of
Madina in the early 20th century.
Sheikh Abdullah bin
Zayed al Nahyan retweeted a post on Twitter this week, in which a user
claimed Fahreddin Pasha — Madina governor from 1916 to 1919 — was a
thief.
The UAE’s top diplomat shared the tweet by the
user called “Ali al Iraqi” and presenting himself as an Iraqi dentist
living in Germany.
“Ali al Iraqi” said the former Madina
governor “committed a crime against the people of Madina by stealing
their money, kidnapping them and putting them on trains that took them
to Syria and Istanbul”.
The user added: “Those are the ancestors of Erdogan and this is the history that they have with Arab Muslims.”
The Turkish president told the minister to “know your place” as he railed against the Twitter user’s claims.
“Now
you see unfortunately those near (Madina) unashamedly, relentlessly are
making slanderous claims. First, know your place! It means you do not
know this country, you do not know Erdogan, you do not know about
Erdogan’s ancestors,” he thundered.
Fahreddin Pasha was governor during the siege of Madina (1916-1919).
“When
Fahreddin Pasha was protecting Madina, hey you wretched slandering us,
where were your ancestors?” Erdogan retorted during a speech in Ankara.
His
spokesman said the tweet was a “propaganda lie” and the governor had
“bravely defended” Madina against British forces. Relations between the
UAE and Turkey are filled with distrust as Ankara supports Qatar in a
six-month crisis with its Gulf neighbours, including the UAE and Saudi
Arabia.