Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the rulers of Saudi Arabia “infidels” (kafir) and decided to boycott the annual Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, affecting tens of thousands of Turks, against the backdrop of the Saudis’ support for the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, with whom Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was ideologically aligned.
Two witnesses recently came forward to reveal how Erdoğan, angry over the removal from office of his Muslim Brotherhood ally on July 3, 2013 by the Egyptian military amid popular protests against Morsi, responded privately to Saudi Arabia, a backer of the post-Morsi regime.
“Mr. Erdoğan wanted to boycott the Hajj during Eid al-Adha [Festival of the Sacrifice, which marks the Muslim pilgrimage season]. He said we must boycott Saudi Arabia, and Turkish pilgrims must not go [to Mecca] because it supports the new regime in Egypt,” said Ahmet Davutoğlu, the then-foreign minister, in an interview on Turkish TV on December 1, 2022.
NEWSRAEL: REMINDER that Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton were supporters of Morsi and angry at his removal.