ANKARA
Middle Eastern governments, groups and political figures have voiced their condemnation of yesterday’s failed coup attempt in Turkey, stressing their support for the Turkish people and Turkey’s democratically-elected government.
On Saturday morning, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on the Turkish people’s victory over the coup plotters.
The emir went on to condemn the failed coup attempt, voicing Qatar’s solidarity with the "brotherly Republic of Turkey" and its support for all actions taken by the latter to safeguard its security, constitutional legitimacy and rule of law.
Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah congratulated Erodgan on the “success of legitimacy, the victory of democracy and the will of the Turkish people”, who have been spared “much suffering”.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry, for its part, in a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency, also welcomed "the return to normalcy in Turkey under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the elected government within the framework of constitutional legitimacy and according to the will of the Turkish people".
The news agency went on to quote a Foreign Ministry source as saying that a successful coup against Turkey’s elected government would have "destabilized the country and harmed the prosperity of its people".
The Moroccan Foreign Ministry likewise voiced its rejection of the "desperate coup attempt" in Turkey, calling for the preservation of the country’s constitutional order.
Morocco, the ministry asserted, "is committed to the stability of its brother Muslim country" and "rejects in principle any use of force to change the existing regime".
Morocco’s opposition Istiqlal ("Independence") Party, for its part, expressed its "absolute condemnation" of Friday’s failed military putsch, "which strove to undermine the democratic progress and economic development in which Turkey has engaged".
"Today’s world has no place for coups and coup makers," the party added. "The army’s rightful place is in the barracks; its role is to protect the country’s borders from external aggression and to ensure peace and security for the people of Turkey."
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki, meanwhile, congratulated Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu for the success of Turkey’s legitimate authorities in putting down the coup attempt.
"The Palestinian president, government and people stand by the Turkish people and their democratically elected government," al-Malki said, according to Palestine’s official Wafa news agency.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir also condemned the failed coup, likewise underlining his support for Turkey’s President Erdogan.
In a statement, al-Bashir denounced "all attempts to undermine Turkey’s security", stressing Sudan’s solidarity with the Turkish people and government.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari likewise decried the failed coup attempt, going on to call for the safeguarding of Turkey’s state institutions.
Israel, too, weighed in on the issue, with Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon saying that the Jewish state "respects the democratic process in Turkey and looks forward to the continuation of the reconciliation process between Turkey and Israel".
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, meanwhile, also congratulated President Erdogan and the Turkish people for successfully crushing the coup attempt.
"We [the Lebanese people] express our solidarity with the Turkish people and our pleasure that the situation [in Turkey] has returned to normal and that President Erdogan has succeeded in steering Turkey to safety," al-Hariri said in a statement.
The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition also extended its congratulations to the Turkish people for putting down the coup attempt.
In a statement, the interim Syrian government declared that the Syrian people "stand by the state of Turkey, its president, and its democratically elected government".
In a joint statement, a number of Syria’s armed opposition groups also expressed their support for the Turkish government and people.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood congratulated Turkey for crushing the coup attempt. “This failed attempt proves that there is no alternative to democracy,” it said in a statement.
Tunisia’s Ennahda movement, for its part, voiced its "absolute solidarity" with the Turkish people and Turkey’s civilian leadership, emphasizing its support for "democratic legitimacy".
It went on to praise the resistance mounted by the Turkish people against the putschists and the steadfastness of Turkey’s military and security forces, which refused to go along with the coup plot.
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian resistance movement Hamas also congratulated the Turkish people for their success in thwarting the "outrageous" attempt to undermine Turkey’s elected government.
"Hamas congratulates the great Turkish people, their elected leadership headed by President Erdogan, and their loyal [political] parties and security forces and military for their victory," the movement said in a statement.
Hamas went on to describe the failure of the coup attempt as a "precious victory in the fight to safeguard democracy, freedom and stability".
The Islamic Action Front, the political wing of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, decried the coup attempt as a bid to undermine democracy in Turkey.
“We believe that this attempt was a response to international dictations aimed at harming security and stability in Turkey,” the front’s secretary-general Ahmed al-Zayudi told Anadolu Agency.
Secretary-General of the Qatar-based International Union for Muslim Scholars, Ali Mohyi al-Din al-Qaradaghi, for his part, called on the Turkish public to "stand by those who were chosen by the people in democratic elections in the face of those who want to destroy Turkey".
Al-Qaradaghi went on to say that Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based preacher and head of the parallel state organization, "has tried and failed several times to stage coups against Turkey’s legitimate authority".
He added: "Those behind him will fail this time too, God willing."
