ISTANBUL: Turkey summoned a top US diplomat to its foreign ministry on Sunday, a day after the US Embassy’s Twitter account liked a tweet regarding Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the nationalist party who has recently fallen ill.

The tweet said Turkey should be ready for a political realm without Bahceli, who has had health issues in recent weeks, which lead to speculation regarding the seriousness of his condition.

The dispute comes at a time when relations between the Nato allies are strained due to Turkey’s threats of an incursion into northeastern Syria, after Ankara accused Washington of stalling efforts to establish a ‘safe zone’ there together.

Bahceli is the leader of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is an ally of President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party. The two parties entered the parliamentary and presidential elections in an alliance last year, which allowed them to attain a majority in parliament together.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday it had summoned the US Charge d’Affaires to the ministry and requested an “open and clear” explanation regarding the issue.

The US Embassy posted two apologies on Twitter, one late on Saturday and another on Sunday, after the Charge d’Affaires was summoned. The Tweet in question was sent by a user named Ergun Babahan.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2019