In first remarks since retweet feud, UAE diplomat says Arabs won't be led by Turkey

By Kateryna Kadabashy

 

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan (C) attends the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 21, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

DUBAI (Reuters) - A senior UAE diplomat said on Wednesday the Arab world would not be led by Turkey, the Gulf State's first comment on Ankara since a quarrel broke out last week over a retweet by the Emirati foreign minister that President Tayyip Erdogan called an insult.

 

Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, said there was a need for Arab countries to rally around the "Arab axis" of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

 

"The sectarian and partisan view is not an acceptable alternative, and the Arab world will not be led by Tehran or Ankara," he wrote on his official Twitter page.

 

Last week, Turkey summoned the charge d'affaires at the UAE embassy in Ankara, after UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahayan shared a tweet that accused Turkish troops of looting the holy city of Medina a century ago.

 

Erdogan himself lashed out: "Some impertinent man sinks low and goes as far as accusing our ancestors of thievery ... What spoiled this man? He was spoiled by oil, by the money he has," the Turkish leader said at an awards ceremony.

 

Turkey's state-run Anadolu newspaper reported on Saturday that Turkey planned to rename the street where the UAE embassy is located in Ankara after Fakhreddin Pasha, the commander of the Ottoman Turkish troops at Medina in 1916. Medina, the holiest site in Islam after Mecca, is now in Saudi Arabia.

 

The UAE sees itself as a bulwark against political forms of Islam, and views Erdogan's Islamist-rooted ruling AK party as a supporter of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, which it opposes.

 

(Editing by Peter Graff)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-28

Let the killing begin....

I recently watched parts of a TV documentary about the arab revolt against the ottoman empire. Pasha was portrayed as a real low animal in the series. 

Easily offended, thin-skinned Arabs and Turks aren't going to ask me what should be priority in their miserable countries, .....but if they did, I'd recommend:

 

>>>  aim for zero population growth, including free condoms to everyone over the age of 16, and free surgical tube-tying for everyone over the age of 20, who request it.

 

>>>  Democracy.

 

>>>  Allow people to believe whatever belief system they choose.

15 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

Easily offended, thin-skinned Arabs and Turks aren't going to ask me what should be priority in their miserable countries, .....but if they did, I'd recommend:

 

>>>  aim for zero population growth, including free condoms to everyone over the age of 16, and free surgical tube-tying for everyone over the age of 20, who request it.

 

>>>  Democracy.

 

>>>  Allow people to believe whatever belief system they choose.

 

 muslims are the victims of their faith - 

>>>> tolerate atheism, forget about apostasy and blasphemy 

>>>> give up polygamy

 

Edited December 29, 20178 yr by Opl

13 minutes ago, Opl said:

 

 muslims are victims of their faith - 

>>>> tolerate atheism, forget about apostasy and blasphemy 

>>>> give up polygamy

 

 IMO all people are victims of their faith , it has being a historical accident that we were able to work our way clear of a lot of that , and they were not allowed because of artificial borders and political systems imposed on them by as. It could easily have being the other way around and there was a time that it was.

I believe that if they were allowed to work their way through these things also , eventually they will settle on a system that work for most. I know that initially there will be systems that   will not be good for a lot of people there, and that there will be pain, but I believe that there need to be some of that pain so that they will owen any solution. They will make it their own. Now there is only externally fueled destabilization , actions,reactions, and retreat to extremist religion.

Unfortunately none of that will happen until the oil that we need is exhausted.   

 

On 12/30/2017 at 12:50 AM, sirineou said:

 IMO all people are victims of their faith , it has being a historical accident that we were able to work our way clear of a lot of that , and they were not allowed because of artificial borders and political systems imposed on them by as. It could easily have being the other way around and there was a time that it was.

I believe that if they were allowed to work their way through these things also , eventually they will settle on a system that work for most. I know that initially there will be systems that   will not be good for a lot of people there, and that there will be pain, but I believe that there need to be some of that pain so that they will owen any solution. They will make it their own. Now there is only externally fueled destabilization , actions,reactions, and retreat to extremist religion.

Unfortunately none of that will happen until the oil that we need is exhausted.   

 

The middle east, except for Israel, is nothing but a collection of countries run by either dictators or mullahs run under the guise of the koran. There are no freedoms for the ordinary people only the rich. Until that time that ordinary people have freedom to do think as they want and as do as they choose the Middle east will be nothing but the cess pool it is.