Turkish-Arab ties marked by fear and loathing
A senior Turkish diplomat says Ankara misread the Middle East and ended up relying on Iran and its backer Russia, the two countries that Arab regimes fear the most.
United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Mohammed Gargash, whose country has had more than one run-in with Turkey in recent times, summed up the situation in a tweet on March 10. "It is no secret that Arab-Turkish relations aren't in their best state," Gargash said.
Gargash also called on Ankara to “deal wisely and rationally with its neighbors by taking into account Arab sovereignty.”
The timing of his remark suggests that he had Turkey’s Olive Branch operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria in his sights. He may have also been referring to reports that Ankara is preparing a similar operation against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
Many believe Gargash was not just speaking for the UAE when expressing concerns about Turkey’s actions in the region. His tweet came a few days after Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was quoted by the Egyptian press saying that Turkey belongs to an “axis of evil” in the Middle East, whose other members are Iran and “extremist religious groups.”
