One of the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) foreign policy success stories has been the election of Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu as secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The organization became as active as Ankara wanted it to be. But nowadays, AKP-Ihsanoglu relations have hit rock bottom because Ihsanoglu did not denounce the Egyptian military coup as strongly as AKP wanted. The relationship crisis that has at its core Turk-Saudi rivalry became public with the unconventional Aug. 17 Twitter messages of AKP Deputy Chairman Huseyin Celik:
"Does anyone know what Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary-general of the OIC, does for work? That person after the coup blamed Morsi. When I recall the efforts our president and prime minister made to have Dr. Ihsanoglu elected as the OIC secretary-general, I can only think what a waste it was. If the OIC doesn’t raise its voice on days like these, when will it? Is one’s influence in that organization proportional to its money? Or is the source of money going to General [Abdel Fattah] al-Sisi and keeping OIC mute one and the same? If Denmark and Holland have louder voices than the OIC, what is this all about?"
