Mayor protests Turkish PM’s visit over minister's 'offensive' tweet

SİİRT – Anatolia News Agency

Photo posted on Twitter by the Turkish European Union Minister Egemen Bağış. DHA photo

A tweet by Turkish European Union Minister Egemen Bağış showing the eastern province of Siirt’s mayor, Selim Sadak, standing with his arms folded during Bağış’s recent visit has caused a small-scale crisis during Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to the city.

Sadak announced that he will not attend Erdoğan’s visiting program since he would be accompanied by Egemen Bağış.

Bağış shared the photograph on his official Twitter account Feb. 17, showing himself sitting in Sadak’s chair with Sadak standing next to him, hands folded in a Turkish gesture of respect and being at someone’s disposal.

Despite many photographs having been taken during Bağış’s visit, choosing that one to publish showed Bağış’s “ulterior motives” amid Turkey’s newly implemented process in finding a solution to the Kurdish issue, Sadak said in a written statement issued March.8.

“It must not be ignored that these kinds of processes are thorny and full of provocations. It is my duty not to be unresponsive to the negative interferences, to act consciously, to be strong, and I know my duty to be an advocate of peace,” he said.