When Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood government was overthrown in 2013, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took it personally, calling it a move "against Turkey." Now, as president, Erdogan is also labeling last week's military intervention in Sudan a coup “against Turkey.”

Erdogan has long embraced now-ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir as his “brother” — notwithstanding the warrant issued in 2010 by the International Criminal Court for Bashir's arrest on a series of genocide charges.

Turkey’s pro-government media claim that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were behind the coup. According to pro-government circles in Turkey, the trio's intervention serves American and Israeli interests in the region and was triggered by the growing ties between Turkey and Sudan, as well as Turkey’s increasing influence in the Horn of Africa. The pro-government daily Yeni Safak wrote April 12 that the trio had offered financial assistance to Sudan if it would sever its ties with Turkey, but Bashir turned the offer down. That, the paper reported, led to the three countries helping to engineer the coup.

 But by blaming other countries for Sudan's current situation, Ankara seems to be ignoring the conditions that led to months of protests in Sudan's streets. The Sudanese people's anger, which initially arose from price increases on bread, fuel, electricity and cooking gas, rapidly turned to demands for freedom and equality. The demonstrations initiated by the Sudanese Professionals Union were supported by 22 political parties and other civil society organizations that had joined with the government Bashir set up in 2015. But in Turkey, government supporters insist on reading these dynamics as a plot by the Gulf states, Israel and the United States.