UAE Official Strikes Back at Erdogan, Says Arab World Won't Be Led by Ankara

The Turkish president has spared with UAE's foreign minister last week on Twitter over the fate of Fakhreddin Pasha, the commander of the Ottoman Turkish troops at Medina in 1916, accused of robbery by the Arab country.

The minister of state for foreign affairs of the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, has joined a Twitter skirmish between the country's foreign minister and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying that Arab countries will 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," the senior diplomat wrote on his official Twitter page.

Tensions were fueled by Turkey's decision to recall its charge d'affaires of the UAE Embassy in the country after the United Arab Emirates' foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahayan, controversially retweeted a post accusing "Erdogan's ancestors" of multiple crimes against the people of Medina.

The retweetted message also claimed that Fahreddin Pasha, Medina's governor from 1916 to 1919 had "committed a crime against the people of Medina by stealing their money, kidnapping them and putting them on trains that took them to Syria and Istanbul."

"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," said the Turkish president, addressing the issue at an awards ceremony.

The matter was further inflamed when the Turkish state Anadolu newspaper reported about the intention to rename the street where the UAE Embassy is located in Ankara after Fakhreddin Pasha.

The relations between Turkey and the UAE have been strained after the Gulf countries, comprising Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of sponsoring terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs. This stance wasn't supported by Ankara, which supports Doha and repeatedly speaks of an alleged UAE involvement in the 2016 attempted coup in Turkey.