ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit back on Wednesday at the United Arab Emirates foreign minister over a social media post that accused “Erdogan’s ancestors” of kidnapping people of Madina in the early 20th century.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan retweeted a post on Twitter this week, in which a user claimed Fahreddin Pasha — Madina governor from 1916 to 1919 — was a thief.

The UAE’s top diplomat shared the tweet by the user called “Ali al Iraqi” and presenting himself as an Iraqi dentist living in Germany.

“Ali al Iraqi” said the former Madina governor “committed a crime against the people of Madina by stealing their money, kidnapping them and putting them on trains that took them to Syria and Istanbul”.

The user added: “Those are the ancestors of Erdogan and this is the history that they have with Arab Muslims.”

The Turkish president told the minister to “know your place” as he railed against the Twitter user’s claims.

“Now you see unfortunately those near (Madina) unashamedly, relentlessly are making slanderous claims. First, know your place! It means you do not know this country, you do not know Erdogan, you do not know about Erdogan’s ancestors,” he thundered.

Fahreddin Pasha was governor during the siege of Madina (1916-1919).

“When Fahreddin Pasha was protecting Madina, hey you wretched slandering us, where were your ancestors?” Erdogan retorted during a speech in Ankara.

His spokesman said the tweet was a “propaganda lie” and the governor had “bravely defended” Madina against British forces. Relations between the UAE and Turkey are filled with distrust as Ankara supports Qatar in a six-month crisis with its Gulf neighbours, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2017