Cabinet welcomes Turkey’s return to normalcy after coup attempt

Vice Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Mohammed bin Naif chaired Monday's cabinet meeting in Jeddah. (SPA)

JEDDAH: The cabinet welcomed the return to normalcy of Turkey after Friday night’s failed coup attempt which left over 200 people dead, the vast majority of them civilians.
Around 1,400 others were wounded as soldiers commandeered tanks, attack helicopters and fighter jets in their bid to seize power, strafing parliament and the intelligence headquarters and trying to seize the main airport and bridges in Istanbul.
The cabinet statement welcomed the return of matters to normal in the “Turkish Republic led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his elected government within the framework of constitutional legitimacy according to the will of the Turkish people, expressing the Kingdom's keenness on the security, stability and prosperity of the sisterly Republic of Turkey.“
On the terrorist incident in Nice the cabinet condemned the attack and condoled the “French Republic's leadership, government, people and the families of the victims, wishing the injured a speedy recovery, confirming the Kingdom's firm stand with the French Republic.”
Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a Tunisian-born Frenchman, drove a truck through a crowd of revellers on the French city's sea-front promenade last Thursday killing 84 people.
In a reiteration of the importance for countries to work together to defeat terror the cabinet warned of the “threat of terrorism to the whole world, stressing the Kingdom's firm positions and its stand strongly to confront terrorism and its commitment, determination and cooperation with other countries to pursue terrorists and dry up their sources.”
The meeting chaired by the Vice Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Mohammed bin Naif, was the first after the Eid holidays and the cabinet thanked states who had condoled the Kingdom after terror attacks in Madinah, Jeddah and Qatif. There was also prayers and praise in the meeting for Saudi Arabia’s security services, particularly those involved in preventing carnage at the Prophet’s Mosque when they confronted a suicide bomber attempting to gain entry in to the holy mosque resulting in the martyrdom of four policemen and the injury of many more.
There was also recognition for all who participated in managing and facilitating the performance of Umrah during the holy month of Ramadan by six million pilgrims.