Egypt has asked Turkey’s ambassador to leave and accused Ankara of backing unnamed organizations bent on spreading instability — a likely reference to the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi.
Turkey said it would reciprocate within hours in the latest sign of a growing dispute between the two regional powers and US allies, a row triggered by the Egyptian army’s overthrow of Mursi on July 3.
Turkey has emerged as one of the fiercest international critics of Mursi’s removal, calling it an “unacceptable coup.” Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which has been staging protests calling for his reinstatement, has close ties with Turkey’s ruling AK Party.
Ankara was “attempting to influence public opinion against Egyptian interests, supported meetings of organizations that seek to create instability in the country,” said foreign Ministry Spokesman Badr Abdelatty on Saturday.
Abdelatty said Erdogan’s remarks in Russia on Thursday were “provocative and interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs.”
In response to Egypt’s decision, Turkish President Abdullah Gul spoke live on state run TRT television saying, “I hope our relations will again get back to its track.”
But a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman said Ankara was in touch with the ambassador “and we will respond with reciprocal steps in coming hours.”
Ties between the two countries have been strained since the ouster of Mursi and, in particular, since the crackdown on his supporters in Cairo’s Rabaa Al-Adawiya and Nahda squares.
The Turkish premier condemned an August 14 crackdown by Egyptian security forces on supporters of Mursi in Cairo.
At least 627 people were killed in Rabaa Al-Adawiya square itself on August 14, according to Egyptian officials, when security forces broke up a sit-in of Mursi’s supporters.
The following day, Cairo and Ankara announced they were recalling their respective ambassadors for consultations.
But Erdogan said on September 4 that Ambassador Botsali would return to Cairo, while Cairo’s envoy was still to return to his post in Ankara.
Turkey’s Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) government had forged a close alliance with Mursi since he won Egypt’s first free presidential election in June 2012.
Mursi was ousted by the army on July 3 following days of mass protests by millions against his turbulent year-long rule.
Millions of Egyptians took to the streets demanding the Islamist leader’s resignation, blaming him for ruining an already dilapidated economy, monopolizing power and working solely to fulfil the agendas of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, to which he belonged.
