Araweelo News Network
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on December 21, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
Ankara(ANN)-Turkey plans to change the name of a street where the embassy of the United Arab Emirates is located to an Ottoman ruler, following a retweet by the Emirati foreign minister against the Turkish historical figure.
The mayor of the Turkish capital Ankara ordered preparations to change the name of the street to Fakhreddin Pasha, who governed the holy city of Medina under the Ottoman Empire during the World War One between 1916 and 1919, Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday.
Last week, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan retweeted accusations that Ottoman forces led by Fakhreddin Pasha mistreated Arabs and stole treasures and manuscripts from Medina in 1916.
In response, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the retweet on Wednesday and called on the UAE foreign minister to “know (his) place!”
Erdogan said Fakhreddin Pasha was protecting the holy city and its treasures during that time, adding, “O you poor (man) who is slandering us, where were your ancestors at the time?”
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan attends a meeting in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, on November 18, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
UAE officials have not made any comments with regard to the dispute.
The diplomatic row comes at a time that Turkey has sided with Qatar after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Doha on June 5, accusing the kingdom of sponsoring terrorism and destabilizing the region.
The four countries have also imposed a series of economic sanctions against Doha while barring Qatari aircraft from using their airspace. Qatar’s only land border with Saudi Arabia has also been blocked as a result.
Qatar has rejected the claims while maintaining that it is paying the price for its independent foreign policy.