Criticizing Egypt coup does not amount to intervention in Egypt’s affairs: Turkish FM

BAKU – Anadolu Agency

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu chairs a meeting of Turkish ambassadors to the Middle Eastern countries on July 11, 2013 in Ankara. AFP PHOTO/ADEM ALTAN

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has refuted claims that Ankara has been interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs, denying that criticizing the coup in Egypt amounts to an intervention in the internal affairs of the country.

“Giving voice to concerns over what happened in Egypt and demanding the start of a process that takes its legitimacy from the people shouldn’t be perceived as an intervention in internal affairs,” Davutoğlu said at a press conference with his Azeri counterpart Elmar Memmedyarov in Baku.

“Otherwise, the countries which defended the coup and sent congratulatory messages are also getting involved in Egypt’s internal affairs,” he added. Egypt’s interim government recently voiced “strong resentment” at comments by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan backing ousted President Mohamed Morsi. The Foreign Ministry expressed “strong resentment at comments like these, which ... represent a clear intervention in internal Egyptian affairs,” its spokesman Badr Abdelatty said. Erdoğan had stated that democratically-elected Morsi was Egypt’s “only legitimate president.”