Erdogan postpones UAE visit over Al Nahyan’s health
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq April 22, 2024. PHOTO: REUTERS
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a postponement of his visit to Abu Dhabi due to a health issue involving Emirati leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, but later deleted the post from social media
The message, posted by Erdogan’s team on X, said he had talked with Al Nahyan by phone.
“During the course of the call, President Erdogan expressed his sadness over the health problem experienced by (President) Al Nahyan and wished him a prompt recovery,” said the three-paragraph message.
President @RTErdogan spoke by phone with President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The leaders discussed the cooperation opportunities between the two countries and the steps to further strengthen the bilateral relations in line with their common…Erdogan would travel to the United Arab Emirates at a later date, still to be determined, the message added.
Although the message — of which AFP has a screen grab — was quickly deleted from the account, it had already been picked up by official Turkish media.
Turkiye’s state broadcaster likewise took down its article on Erdogan that mentioned the Emirati leader’s health problem.
The official Emirati news agency, WAM, reported on the telephone conversation between the two leaders, but did not mention that Erdogan’s visit had been postponed.
Contacted by AFP, neither the Turkish presidency nor the Emirati authorities — who have themselves made no statement on their president’s health — have yet answered.
The Emirati leader’s team on Saturday evening released photos taken the same day showing Al Nahyan, known as MBZ, smiling and apparently in good health, with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar.