Turkey’s drones win friends from Azerbaijan to the UAE
Turkey delivered 120 Bayraktar drones to the UAE last week, despite a history of tension between the two countries. The move is an example of how the technology is a powerful diplomatic tool for President Recip Tayyip Erdogan’s regime.
The UAE and Turkey have fought proxy wars against each other in Libya, Egypt, and the Horn of Africa. Notably, the UAE had supported one side of the 2019 to 2020 Libya war with Chinese drones, while Turkey had provided the other side with Bayraktar drones.
The Turkish state has also previously accused the UAE of participating in a 2016 coup attempt to overthrow it. But relations have been improving in the last year, and the sale of the drones could mark a key turning point in that shift.
The UAE has been harboring a Turkish mafia boss, Sedat Peker, who has made a number of explosive videos unveiling alleged corruption within Erdogan’s government. Last month, Peker released a video that led to two Erdogan aides resigning. Reports indicate that the authorities in the UAE gave Peker a recent warning to curtail his online activities. The fact that the delivery of the drones came in the wake of this action has led to some speculation that the two events could be connected.