United Arab Emirates vows to 'shun' 'thieving' Turkey in EXPLOSIVE Twitter spat

Relations between the two countries have been at a low in recent years but a contentious Twitter message retweeted by the UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, sparked outrage from Turkey.

کد خبر: ۷۵۹۳۷۰

تاریخ: ۰۷ دی ۱۳۹۶ - ۱۰:۱۴

The tweet referred to a historical event which took place over 100 years ago but accused the Ottoman Empire, which was controlled by Turkey, of stealing from the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia.

The offending tweet said: “Did you know that in 1916, Turkish Fahreddin Pasha committed a crime against the people of Medina, stole their properties, and put them on a train en route to Damascus and Istanbul?

“Also, the Turks stole the handwritten books in Mahmoudia Library and took them to Istanbul.

“This is the history of Erdoğan's ancestors and what they did to Muslim Arabs.”

The message was originally posted by an Iraqi man living in Germany but was then shared by the UAE Foreign Minister.

Following severe backlash in Turkish media President Erdoğan lashed out.

He responded to the claim saying: “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.”

In an escalating Twitter spat, the remark led to Anwar Gargash, the UAE minister of state for federal national council affairs and foreign affairs responding by vowing to shun Turkey.

Mr Gargash said: “The sectarian and partisan approach is not an acceptable alternative. The Arab world will not be led by Tehran or Ankara.”

He added: “The geostrategic competition taking place in the region calls for strengthened Arab unity with Riyadh and Cairo as its pillar.”

Meanwhile, Dhahi Khalfan, the deputy chief of police and public security for the Emirate of Dubai has used social media to call Turkey “evil”.

He wrote: “Turkey led by Erdogan is an evil country.”

Relations between Turkey and the UAE have been strained for the last six years after Turkey vocally supported the Arab Spring popular uprisings that disrupted the Middle East in 2011.

The attempted coup in Turkey in 2016 also had a detrimental effect on relations after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the UAE of financing the coup.