‘Who is this fool?’ asks UK ambassador after TV anchor accuses him of supporting coup

ISTANBUL

Dolmabahçe Sarayı'nın dışında laleler. Bahar işareti! Güzel. Tulips in Istanbul heralding spring. Hooray! pic.twitter.com/IqVC0Hts9b — Richard Moore (@UKAmbRichard) 5 Nisan 2017

@ertemsener .Of ya! Bu aptal kim? — Richard Moore (@UKAmbRichard) 5 Nisan 2017

A sports anchor has caused controversy by accusing the U.K. ambassador to Ankara of posting veiled “pro-coup” messages and supporting the “No” campaign in Turkey upcoming April 16 referendum, drawing an angry reaction from the ambassador who replied simply: “Who is this fool?”The conversation between Ambassador Richard Moore and sports anchor Ertem Şener was prompted when the ambassador shared pictures of tulips outside Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace on April 5.“Tulips in Istanbul heralding spring. Hooray!” Moore tweeted in both Turkish and English.In response, Şener tweeted to his 849,000 followers that Moore was helping the “No” campaign for the referendum on shifting Turkey to an executive presidential system and trying to provoke a military coup.“How low these people are! Those men are helping the ‘No’ campaign and they want a coup. May God protect our country from these dishonest and low people,” Şener tweeted, adding that Moore was a “son of a b*tch.”“This is how they are giving a message to Turkey. They are saying: ‘If we had prevailed in the [July 2016 coup attempt] these tulips would have blossomed earlier,” he also said.“British dog. Those tulips have been washed in [martyrs’] blood for centuries! Your ancestors know it well, ignoble dogs!” Şener tweeted.“The owners of the killer who killed children with chemical weapons in Syria cannot talk about spring and tulips! You bastards,” he added.In response to Şener’s tirade, Moore simply tweeted in Turkish: “Oh dear! Who is this fool?”