Erdoğan pays condolence visit to Abu Dhabi

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has traveled to Abu Dhabi to pay a condolence visit for the death of the former president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The UAE’s long-ailing ruler and president died on May 13, the government announced in a brief statement. He was 73.

Sheikh Khalifa oversaw much of the country’s blistering economic growth, and his name was immortalized on the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, after bailing out debt-crippled Dubai during its financial crisis over a decade ago.

However, after suffering a stroke and undergoing emergency surgery in 2014, a decade after becoming the president, he ceased having any involvement in the day-to-day affairs of ruling the country.

The last several years of his life saw his half brother, Abu Dhabi Crown Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as the de-facto ruler and decision-maker of major foreign policy decisions, such as joining a Saudi-led war in Yemen and spearheading an embargo on neighboring Qatar in recent years. The crown prince, who is also the deputy supreme commander of the armed forces, shepherded the UAE’s budding ties with Israel after the two normalized relations in 2020.

Last year, Turkey and the UAE stepped up for dialogue for narrowing the differences on several bilateral and regional matters, including the Libya conflict. Ties between the two countries had derailed after the UAE had slammed Turkey’s strong reaction against the coup staged by Abdel Fettah al-Sisi that led to the toppling of Egypt’s first elected President Mohammed Morsi in mid-2013.

Turkish officials have also accused the UAE of supporting the 2016 coup attempt by FETÖ in Turkey. Relations between Turkey and the UAE were further impacted after a Saudi Arabia-led blockade on Qatar by Arab nations, including the UAE, that lasted from mid-2017 to early last year. Turkey stood by Qatar against the embargo staged by the Gulf countries, particularly the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The crown prince visited Ankara in November last month, making his first official trip to Turkey since 2012 and the highest-level visit by an Emirati official in recent years.

Erdoğan paid a two-day visit to the UAE in February for the first time in nearly a decade to revive relations.