Turkey summons UAE diplomat over social media post

By Ugur Cil, Ayşe Hümeyra Atılgan

ANKARA

Turkey on Thursday summoned a United Arab Emirates (UAE) diplomat over a recent social media post targeting an Ottoman governor.

Acting ambassador of UAE Hawla Ali Al-Shamsi was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, according to sources from the ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The diplomat was informed about Turkey's concern over a recent post retweeted by the country's foreign minister on social media targeting Fahreddin Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Medina from 1916-1919, the sources said.

On Saturday, UAE's Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan retweeted a post suggesting the Ottoman governor had committed abuses against the local population and had even pilfered their property.

In the post, Turks are accused of stealing "most of the manuscripts of the Mahmudiyah library in the city" and sending them to Turkey.

"These are Erdogan’s ancestors and their history with Arab Muslims,” the tweet read.

Replying to the offensive post, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said: “It’s no coincidence that those who take pride in keeping the company of tyrants -- at a time when Muslims are under violent attack -- would target Fahreddin Pasha."

About the claims of theft, Erdogan stressed it was not stealing but "protecting the holy relics of the Prophet Mohamed" from British invasion of Hejaz -- present day western Saudi Arabia.