TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Egypt expels Turkish ambassador, scales back ties
Egypt downgraded diplomatic relations with Turkey Saturday and ordered its ambassador expelled from Cairo, a sharp escalation in tensions between the two countries that have mounted since the Egyptian military's ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi this summer
Change Size
E
gypt downgraded diplomatic relations with Turkey Saturday and ordered its ambassador expelled from Cairo, a sharp escalation in tensions between the two countries that have mounted since the Egyptian military's ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi this summer.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry said the Turkish envoy has been considered persona non grata and is being asked to leave the country because of what it described as Ankara's continued "interference" in Egyptian affairs. It said it will scale back its diplomatic relations with Turkey to the level of charge d'affaires.
In reaction to the decision, Turkish President Abdullah Gul told reporters that he hoped our relations "will be restored soon."
Turkey's Islamic-rooted ruling party had strongly backed Morsi ' a leading figure in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood ' as an example for the Arab world of a democratically elected Islamist leader. It has criticized his July 3 overthrow by Egypt's military, while also criticizing the West for what it has deemed a weak response to a military coup.
Turkey and Egypt recalled their ambassadors in August after Turkey condemned the ouster and a subsequent bloody crackdown on pro-Morsi protests. Turkey's ambassador returned weeks later, but Egypt had declined to return its envoy to Ankara.
Saturday's decision comes after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his criticism of Egypt's new leaders, dismissing the trial of Morsi which opened earlier this month on charges of inciting murder of his opponents while in office, and describing on Thursday the situation in Egypt as a "humanitarian drama."
