Turkey on alert over Egyptian army’s crackdown against coup protesters

ANKARA

Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi gesture as Egyptian security forces (unseen) move in to disperse their protest camp near Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque. The Muslim Brotherhood said at least 250 people were killed and over 5,000 injured in the police crackdown. AFP photo

Turkey’s top leaders are closely watching Egyptian security forces’ crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers protesting the July 3 coup that ousted President Mohamed Morsi, Anadolu Agency reported today.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was informed of the Egyptian forces’ intervention early today, the agency said, adding that both Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu placed diplomatic calls immediately after the news broke about the crackdown. Davutoğlu was said to have discussed the matter with some of his colleagues, but no details have been given so far.

The Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry declined to give details on the contacts of Erdoğan and Davutoğlu.

Egyptian security forces, backed by armored cars and bulldozers, moved today to clear two sit-in camps by supporters of Morsi, showering protesters with tear gas, state television and security officials said.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said at least 250 people were killed and over 5,000 injured in the crackdown.

Turkey has been one of few countries which strongly rejected the coup d’état in Egypt and called on coup plotters to restore the democratic order in the country and release Morsi.

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has also reacted to the crackdown, calling on the U.N. Security Council to release a call for halt to violence in Egypt, arguing that the international community needs to give a stronger reaction to what has happened in the Midde Eastern country.

CHP’s Deputy Chair Faruk Loğoğlu spoke to Anadolu Agency hours after Egypt’s security forces backed by bulldozers moved in on two huge protest camps set up in Cairo by Morsi's supporters.

“The use of violence in this by armed forces and security forces of any country, including Egypt, against civilian people definitely has no aspect which is acceptable,” Loğoğlu said, expressing “deep sadness and grave concern.”

“Thus, we condemn these interventions and call for an immediate end to these,” he said, while underlining the international community’s responsibility to display a stronger reaction to developments in Egypt.

“We believe that it is particularly necessary for the U.N. Security Council to release a call asking for a halt to violence and for opening of the gate and way to democracy in Egypt,” said Loğoğlu, a veteran retired diplomat.

Turkish ministers also reacted to the crackdown via Twitter.

Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik wrote that the incidents in Egypt were a test for the international community.

"What's happening in Egypt is a test for the international community as it is for Egypt. It’s an issue of morality when what's happening in Egypt is seen through an Orientalist [lens] and Cold War sentiment, and only ‘concern’ is expressed," Çelik said. "At the beginning of the third millennium, regarding what's happening in Egypt, the international community is turning the principles it was built upon into writings on scraps of paper."

Development Minister Cevdet Yılmaz said on his Twitter account that "Egyptians should not be killers of their brethren, they must go hand in hand for freedom and prosperity, no matter what their political [views are]. Egyptians should unite against slaughter, whether they are pro- or anti-Morsi. This is not about [the Muslim Brotherhood], this is about all of Egypt."