ZCZC
BFF-15
EGYPT-TURKEY-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-RIGHTS
Turkish President Erdogan lashes out at Sisi over Egypt executions
ISTANBUL, Feb 24, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
sharply criticised his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after the
recent execution of nine people in Egypt, saying he refused to talk to
“someone like him”.
“They killed nine young people recently. This is not something we can
accept,” Erdogan said Saturday in an interview with Turkish TV channels CNN-
Turk and Kanal D, referring to the execution Wednesday of nine men sentenced
for the murder of the Egyptian prosecutor general in 2015.
“Of course, we are going to be told that it is a decision of the judiciary,
but there, justice, elections, all that, are codswallop. There is an
authoritarian system, even totalitarian,” Erdogan added. “Now, I am answering
those who wonder why Tayyip Erdogan does not speak to Sisi, because there are
mediators who come here sometimes, but I will never talk to someone like
him,” he said.
Relations between Turkey and Egypt have been virtually non-existent since
the Egyptian military, then led by Sisi, in 2013 ousted Islamist president
Mohamed Morsi, a close ally of Erdogan.
Morsi’s Islamist Muslim Brotherhood is outlawed in Egypt but members of the
group have sought refuge in Turkey.
Erdogan, who denounced Morsi’s ouster, sometimes draws a parallel with the
failed coup against himself in 2016.
The Turkish president also called for the release of Muslim Brotherhood
prisoners in Egypt.
“First of all, he should release all those imprisoned with a general
amnesty. As long as these people have not been released, we will not be able
to talk with Sisi,” he said.
Erdogan also attacked Western countries which, according to him, “roll out
the red carpet” for Sisi and turn a blind eye to the latest executions in
Egypt.
“Where are the Westerners? Have you heard their voices?” he said.
“On the other hand, when it comes to people imprisoned in our country
(Turkey), they scream bloody murder.”
Amnesty International condemned the executions of the men, who it said were
convicted in trials marred by torture allegations.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1131 hrs