Arabs ‘won’t be led’ by Ankara, UAE diplomat says after retweet feud

A senior UAE diplomat said Wednesday the Arab world would not be led by Turkey. The statement is seen as the Gulf state’s first comment on Ankara since a quarrel broke out last week over a retweet by the Emirati FM that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called an insult, Reuters said. 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 Arab world will not be led by Tehran or Ankara,” he wrote on his 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.