Levent Kenez/Stockholm
In an article published in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s family-run Sabah newspaper on Friday, the United Arab Emirates was accused of collaborating with Mossad and the CIA to oust Erdoğan in the 2023 elections.
Turkey and the UAE have been taking steps to improve their frayed relations for a while. The Turkish government earlier warned local and Muslim Brotherhood media based in Turkey about negative coverage of the UAE. Interestingly, the accusation coincided with Turkish authorities on Monday confirming a meeting between Erdoğan and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and the UAE’s de facto ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (MBZ) in Ankara next week.
The Sabah daily’s Abdurrahman Şimşek, known for news stories based on “leaked” documents from government officials and Turkish Intelligence, wrote an article about a newly established think tank in New York, the Turkish Democracy Project (TDP). According to the organization’s website, the TDP is dedicated to informing the international community about Erdoğan’s destabilizing actions in and beyond Turkey’s region, its systemic corruption, its support for extremism and its disregard for democracy and human rights. The TDP also announced the building of a database of research about Turkey while providing a platform for “thought leadership and expertise.”
Şimşek, in his anti-Semitic article, claims “Despite all their efforts, international organizations that could not overthrow President Erdoğan, this time united under one roof and took action. Sabah is deciphering the plan of the Turkish Democracy Project (TDP) think tank and psychological operations platform, financed by Jewish capital and founded by former Mossad heads, to oust Erdoğan in the 2023 elections.”
Using the words “Mossad” and “Jewish,” Şimşek aims to attract the attention of Turkish conspiracy theorists, but his piece deliberately contains a lot of misinformation. “The biggest step within the scope of the plan was taken last June. The Turkish Democracy Project, which has rolled up its sleeves for the political and economic crisis in Turkey, was launched on June 23, 2021, with the contributions of people with a background in bureaucracy and intelligence, as well as members of FETÖ [a derogatory term coined by the Erdoğan government to refer to members of the faith-based Gülen movement, claiming the movement is a terrorist organization and its members terrorists] who are part of organizations called UANI [United Against Nuclear Iran], CEP [Counter Extremism Project] and JFK [Justice for Kurds], which were launched in the US.”
He associates the TDP with Mossad, considering that some of the founders of the TDP are also members of UANI, two of whose founders are former heads of Mossad Meir Dagan and Tamir Pardo.
According to Şimşek, the UAE and Gülen movement members support the TDP, which was established by the CIA and Mossad.
“[TDP’s] website publishes news/analyses of foreign media outlets supported by the United Arab Emirates and Israel, which are known for including articles against our country such as the pro-FETÖ Ahval, Duvar English, Al-Monitor and The Jerusalem Post. Articles and reports written for the purpose of creating a negative perception about President Erdoğan and Turkey are also shared on social media accounts. Interactions with media outlets supported by FETÖ and the United Arab Emirates, such as Ahval and Al-Monitor, draw attention.”
Stating that UANI is supported by the UAE, Şimşek claims that “the second actor to support the TDP, apart from FETÖ, is the UAE. Email correspondence of Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to Washington, who has ties to the Israel lobby, was leaked to open sources in 2017. While it was revealed that Otaiba had ties to UANI’s CEO M.D. Wallace as of 2014, Wallace’s messaging with Otaiba about the financing of an event showed that UANI was in line with the interests of the UAE closely following the US policy towards Iran.”
Şimşek, who is close to Turkish intelligence, seems uncomfortable with efforts for Iran’s denuclearization, which is also in Turkey’s interest. It is also worth recalling that Hakan Fidan, the current head of Turkish intelligence, who previously represented Turkey on the board of governors of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency between 2008 and 2010, was not against Iran having nuclear capabilities thanks to his boss Erdoğan, who calls Iran his second home.
The people that Şimşek targeted because they are allegedly involved in activities against Turkey are former US Ambassador to the UN Mark D. Wallace, former US Senator Joseph Lieberman, former chair of the Homeland Security Council Frances Townsend, former US National Security Advisor John Bolton, former US President George W. Bush’s brother and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former US State Department adviser David L. Phillips, former CIA Iran expert Norman T. Roule, former CIA Deputy Director of Operations Robert G. Richer, former deputy US representative to the United Nations Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, Italy’s former ambassador to the US and Israel Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, co-founder and spokesperson of American Friends of Kurdistan Diliman Abdulkader and TDP executive director Madeleine Joelson.
Turkey and the UAE were on different sides of almost at every political issue in the region, long working against each other. While Dubai-owned television stations were broadcasting news stories critical of Turkey, Turkey, along with Qatar, was targeting the regimes of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt in particular and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, their arch-enemy.
There were reports in the government-controlled Turkish media using insulting expressions about Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdallah bin Zayed. The UAE was alleged to be the financier of a failed coup on July 15, 2016. Turkey sought an Interpol Red Notice for Mohammad Dahlan, security advisor to Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Zayed, for allegedly running a UAE espionage network in Turkey and, interestingly, being a member of the Gülen movement
The improvement in relations between Turkey and the UAE was first reflected in the media. Ankara had warned TV channels affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood based in Turkey and prevented them from targeting the regimes of the Gulf countries and Egypt in their broadcasts. Zayed Fadi, a bad guy from the UAE in the “Teşkilat” TV series produced by Turkish Intelligence, was killed at the end of the first season. The UAE imposed a video ban on mafia leader and Turkish President Erdoğan’s one-time ally Sedat Peker, who currently lives in the Emirates and who had posted YouTube videos revealing the Erdoğan government’s alleged crimes of recent years. Peker was also prohibited from tweeting. There is speculation that Peker will move to another country amid the improvement of relations between the two countries.
