Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Vice-Chairman Dr Yasin Aktay, who is also the official spokesman for the party, has praised Qatar’s stance in supporting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s legitimacy and rejecting the recent failed military coup attempt, stressing that Turkish people will never forget this honourable position of Qatar’s Emir, government and people.
Dr Yasin Aktay said that HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was the first leader to call President Erdogan during the initial moments of the coup attempt.
In his interviews with a number of Qatari newspapers yesterday, Dr Yasin Aktay said that the failed coup attempt targeted Turkey’s strong ties with Qatar and other countries in the region, describing the Qatari-Turkish relations as “perfect, typical, and growing in all aspects”.
He told Arrayah daily that Qatar and Turkey were against the failed military coup since the first moment, adding that Qatar’s support and solidarity came as per expectations.
He also praised the Qatari media coverage of the coup attempt, saying that it revealed “the ugly face of other media which welcomed the coup”.
Regarding the visit of HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani to Ankara, Dr Yasin Aktay said it renewed the Emir’s message of solidarity to the Turkish president.
With regard to Turkish economy, he stressed that it was able to recover quickly, investments are ongoing and conditions returned to normal thanks to Turkish people’s patriotism, adding that Turkey has become stronger than it was before the coup.
In his interview with Al-Sharq newspaper, he indicated that Turkey’s action against the putschists is a natural step undertaken by any state to face a real crime against its people, saying that they wanted to kill the president-elect, bombed the parliament and the headquarters of the intelligence services and police and killed about 250 Turkish people in the streets.
He pointed out that some dictatorial regimes see in the Turkish president and what he has achieved a threat and an embarrassment to them, and that the EU countries are afraid of Islam and fear that Turkey is a model of a successful Islamic country, and thus they stand together to topple Turkey.
He referred to accusations that the coup attempt organised by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in order to get rid of his opponents, saying that he is surprised at these allegations which have no factual evidence, adding that everyone knows that some of military leaders involved in the coup attempt and the leader of the terrorist organisation Fethullah Gulen himself admitted that there was a coup attempt.
Dr Yasin Aktay emphasised the involvement of the two officers who downed Russian aircraft in the coup attempt and said that this indicates that there is an external dimension to these terrorist groups, adding that that they want to strain relations between the two countries.
Denying that there is a “restructuring” of the Turkish army, Dr Aktay said that the action was only against elements belonging to the secret terrorist organisation which follows Fethullah Gulen, and they who organised the coup.
Speaking about the US role in the failed coup, he said that his country do not accuse the US of direct involvement in the coup, but it should hand Gulen over to Turkey, otherwise it is certainly involved in this attempt.
Dr Yasin Aktay said that HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was the first leader to call President Erdogan during the initial moments of the coup attempt
