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Diplomatic tensions between Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have resurfaced once again after the two sides clashed in a war of words over the crisis in Libya.
In a statement released on Thursday, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation expressed concern over Turkish interference in Libya through the alleged deployment of fighters and arms smuggling.
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The UAE ministry also praised the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, and rejected Turkish military intervention on behalf of the UN-recognized Libyan government.
In response to criticism, Hami Aksoy, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, accused the United Arab Emirates of applying “destructive” and “two-faced” policies in the region and asked Abu Dhabi to stop its “hostile attitude “to Ankara.
Aksoy said the UAE was backing the “coup plotters” in Libya, a reference to the LNA, by providing them with weapons and mercenaries. He called on the Gulf state to “stop financing forces against international peace, security and stability” in places like Yemen, Syria and the Horn of Africa.
Turkey supports the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and has signed a military cooperation agreement with it to assist in the fight against Haftar’s LNA, backed by the United Arab Emirates and its ally, Saudi Arabia.
Last year, the LNA began a military operation to remove the GNA from the capital Tripoli, but has not made much progress so far.
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Regional rivals
Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have supported opposing parties on various ongoing and past issues in the Middle East, with the crisis in Libya, the Syrian civil war, the coup d’etat in Egypt, and the murder of the Washington Post columnist. Jamal Khashoggi as examples.
Turkey also accused the United Arab Emirates of killing civilians and causing a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, intervening in the affairs of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and financially supporting the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
Ankara’s support for the Arab Spring rebellions, which began in 2011, angered Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which viewed the move as a threat to their national stability.
They see it as a zero-sum game, in which there is no way for both sides to win.
Sinan Ulgen, former diplomat
In Egypt, Turkey supported democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, backed by the Muslim Brotherhood before and during the coup in Egypt.
Ankara also supported anti-government protests and later rebel movements against President Basher al-Assad in the Syrian crisis.
The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, have supported al-Assad in Syria and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who ousted Morsi in 2014 and has been an ally of the two Gulf states since then.
“The rivalry between the two sides is mainly due to Turkey’s support for the Arab Spring uprisings and the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which were seen as threats by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.” Sinan Ulgen, former diplomat and president of Based in Istanbul The study center of the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), told Al Jazeera.
“But the problems between the parties have gradually grown through a series of disagreement problems over the years,” he said.
“As time went on and the problems piled up, Turkey and the UAE got involved in a regional power struggle. They see it as a zero-sum game, in which there is no way for both sides to win. Yes one wins, another loses. “
Gulf crisis
The Gulf crisis has been one of the central issues behind the tensions between Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, along with Egypt, severed political, commercial, and transport ties with Qatar, accusing it of “supporting terrorism” in the region, a charge repeatedly rejected by Doha.
The four Arab countries continue to impose a land, air and sea blockade against Qatar.
Turkey has strongly supported Qatar in the crisis, improving its political, economic and military relations with the Gulf state.
Hours after the blockade, which included Saudi Arabia closing the only land border of Qatar, was imposed, Turkey dispatched planes full of supplies to avoid a food shortage in the country, which relied heavily on imported commodities.
Ankara also established a military base in Qatar, deploying thousands of soldiers, to guarantee the security of the country.
Ulgen told Al Jazeera that Ankara’s stance has been “clear and clear” in favor of Qatar during the Gulf crisis.
“Turkey has not tried to maintain a balanced posture between the Saudi Arabian-UAE camp and Qatar. It did not try to handle the situation in a way to protect its ties to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, but threw its full weight behind Qatar right away, “he said.
Tensions over the failed 2016 coup
Separately, Ankara has offered a reward for any information leading to the arrest of Mohammed Dahlan, a former official of the Palestinian Fatah party currently in exile in the United Arab Emirates.
Ankara accuses Dahlan, 58, of participating in the failed 2016 coup through the support of the UAE and placed him on the “Most Wanted List” late last year.
In an interview with Al Jazeera in October, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the United Arab Emirates of harboring “a terrorist”.
“[Dahlan] he fled to you because he is an agent of Israel, “he said, accusing Abu Dhabi of trying to remove AP President Mahmoud Abbas using Dahlan.
Dahlan was expelled from the Fatah governing body in 2011 on charges of conspiring to overthrow Abbas and has been living in exile in the United Arab Emirates since 2012.
For his part, Abu Dhabi has condemned Turkey’s operations in northern Syria, calling them measures against Syria’s sovereignty, a criticism rejected by Turkey.
Turkey has carried out three operations in the region in recent years to clear its border of what it calls “terrorists” and to create secure areas to resettle more than three million Syrian refugees it houses.
Ankara also promised to leave the land it controls in northern Syria once the crisis is resolved.
A recent report suggested that the UAE made many attempts to get al-Assad to break the ceasefire reached between Syria and Turkey through the mediation of Russia, the main ally of the Damascus government.
According to the report, the UAE offered $ 3 billion in exchange for the move.
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Different approach to Turkey
Last month, in an eye for an eye move, Turkish authorities blocked Saudi and UAE news websites days after Turkey’s state-run TRT network and Anadolu news agency were blocked by Riyadh.
In March, Turkish prosecutors charged 20 Saudi citizens with the murder of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Saudi officials killed Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), in what Riyadh called a “dishonest operation”.
However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the murder was ordered at the “highest levels” of the Saudi government.
According to Ulgen, there is a difference between Turkey’s approach to the UAE compared to Saudi Arabia.
“There are deeper economic, cultural and political ties between Turkey and Saudi Arabia than the United Arab Emirates. Even after the Khashoggi assassination, Riyadh and Ankara did not cut ties. We can also see this in Saudi Arabia’s approach to Turkey, which is more careful than the UAE, “he said.
Follow Umut Uras on Twitter: @Um_Uras
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