Egypt’s duty is not to stand with oppressive regimes: Turkish Foreign Ministry

ANKARA

Turkey has rejected the accusations of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry against Ankara that was expressed at a meeting on the Syrian crisis and said Cairo’s role in the Small Group on Syria should be to work for sustainable peace in the region, not backing “oppressive regimes.”

“We reject the accusations of the Egyptian Foreign Minister targeting Turkey at the ‘Small Group’ meeting on Syria,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hami Aksoy said in a written statement on Oct. 24.

“These accusations are made up of delusions, which cannot be taken seriously whereas our country had martyrs in the fight against terrorism in Syria, embraced almost four million Syrians, protects the people from a cruel regime and terrorists in the north of Syria, and has made concrete contribution to the political process both in Geneva and within the Astana platform,” he said.

The role that Turkey has assumed in Syria will continue to be an assurance not only to its own national security but also to the political unity and territorial integrity of Syria, he added.

The responsibility of Egypt, as a member of the Small Group on Syria, is to “listen to the expectations of the peoples and serve sustainable peace, security and stability in the region, instead of acting as the flag-bearer of the oppressive regimes, putschist parallel structures, and terrorist organizations,” Aksoy stated.

In a ministerial meeting of the Small Group on Syria on Oct.22, Shoukry said that “Turkish presence in Syria damages not only Syria itself but also severely harms the entire region, therefore, plans to fuel extremism and transfer foreign terrorist fighters should not be tolerated,” according to Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Hafez.