| CNN International | - |
(CNN)
-- Turkey has declared Egypt's envoy to Ankara persona non grata in
response to Cairo's decision to expel the Turkish ambassador, the
Turkish Ministry of Foreign affairs announced Saturday.
Egypt declares Turkish envoy persona non grata -- Turkey responds in kind
updated 10:47 AM EST, Sat November 23, 2013
A portrait of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy is seen through a Turkish flag during a rally in Istanbul in August.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Egypt asked Turkey's ambassador to leave Saturday
- Turkish media said Egypt attributed the move to Ankara's interference in its affairs
- The Turkish government later declared Egypt's envoy persona non grata
- The move follows a worsening in relations since the ousting of President Mohamed Morsy
The Egyptian government
had earlier summoned Turkey's ambassador to inform him he was persona
non grata and to ask him to leave the country, according to state media
in both countries.
Egypt's Middle East News
Agency said Egypt was also recalling its envoy to Ankara. Cairo lowered
its diplomatic representation in Turkey to the level of charge
d'affaires and withdrew its ambassador in August 2012.
Cairo had attributed the
decision to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erodgan's criticism of
Egyptian authorities and the country's internal affairs, Turkey's Anadolu news agency said.
In a statement, Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its ambassador had been asked to leave Egypt by November 29.
It blamed Egypt's interim
government for the move, but said the historic relationship and kinship
between Egyptians and Turks would prevail.
Muslim Brotherhood ban upheld
Egypt on a 'proper path' to democracy?
Mohamed Morsy trial halted by chanting
"Our most heartfelt wish
is that our friend and brother Egypt will in the shortest possible time
return to stability and democracy and that relations between our
countries go back to normal."
Anadolu quoted the
ambassador, Huseyin Avni Botsali, as saying: "I will continue to pray
for the good of Egypt. Egypt is very important. For Egypt to remain on
the democratic path is essential for the region and for the world."
Botsali's expulsion is
the latest indication of worsening relations between the two countries
since the ousting of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy earlier this year.
Erdogan was accorded a
hero's welcome when he visited post-revolution Cairo in late 2011.
However, his government supported the election of the Muslim
Brotherhood's candidate Morsy in 2012 and spoke out when he was ousted
in July this year.
At the time, Anadolu
quoted Erdogan as saying "every military coup, regardless of its target,
country and reason, is the murderer of the democracy, people and the
future of the country."
Erdogan has even displayed the four fingered salute considered the symbol of defiance against Egypt's military rule.
There's a perception gaining ground in the region that the Turkish
government is allied to the Muslim Brotherhood and that its foreign
policy is defined by sectarian priorities
Fadi Hakura
Fadi Hakura
In September, Egypt's
interim president Adly Mansour singled out Turkey's reaction to Morsy's
overthrow for criticism during an interview on state television.
"The Turkish reaction
has reflected short-sightedness and personal interest, not realizing the
amount of cooperation between the two countries," Mansour said, according to an account of the interview published by state-run media outlet Al-Ahram.
It is a shift from 2012, when Erdogan told an audience at his party conference
-- that included then-President Morsy -- that Turkey was a role model
for regional democratic Islamist movements in the wake of the Arab
Spring.
"This understating that
we have put forth has gone beyond our borders and has practically become
an example to all Muslim countries," Erdogan said.
Fadi Hakura from the London think-tank Chatham House told CNN that Saturday's events were "a vivid illustration of Turkey's growing isolation in the Middle East."
"There's a perception
gaining ground in the region that the Turkish government is allied to
the Muslim Brotherhood and that its foreign policy is defined by
sectarian priorities," Hakura said.
"Turkey has tense
relations with Israel, the neighboring countries -- Iran, Syria and Iraq
-- the majority of the Gulf Arab states and Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and
Jordan," he said.
Hakura said U.S. President Barack Obama also was deeply unhappy with Turkish foreign policy in the region.
"Since early August
there has been no telephone contact between the U.S. President and
Turkish Prime Minister and that's a reflection in part with Turkey's
deepening isolation in the Middle East and also frustration in Ankara at
Obama's reluctance to get involved in the conflict in Syria," he said.
Hakura said while
tensions between Cairo and Ankara would not have a major impact on
Turkish-U.S. relations, "what these events do is reduce the importance
of Turkey to U.S. foreign policy calculations."
Last month Suat
Kiniklioglu, a former lawmaker from Erdogan's AKP party, also warned
that Turkey needed to reprioritize its foreign policy objectives in the
Middle East after suffering serious setbacks in the region in recent
months.
"Egypt is a key actor in the Middle East. There is a clear need to calibrate the language directed at Cairo, as well," Kiniklioglu wrote in the English language Today's Zaman newspaper.
"The falling out with
Israel, the Arab Spring and especially the civil war in Syria have
radically altered Turkey's position in the region," he said. "The coup
in Egypt has added insult to injury. Consequently, Turkey is confronted
with significant challenges on all fronts in the region," Kiniklioglu
said.
CNN's Ivan Watson and Gul Tuysuz contributed to this report.
end quote from:
No comments:
Post a Comment