Egypt summons Turkish chargé d’affaires

CAIRO - Anadolu Agency

Nearly a year after he ousted Egypt's first freely elected president, former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was elected president by a landslide of 92 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results released by his campaign Thursday. AP Photo

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said June 3 it had summoned the Turkish chargé d’affaires in Cairo to protest remarks made by Turkish officials regarding last week’s presidential polls.

Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Ati said in a press release that the assistant foreign minister for eastern and southern Europe affairs had summoned the Turkish diplomat “to express resentment over remarks made by some Turkish officials regarding Egypt’s presidential elections.”

He said the assistant foreign minister had told the Turkish envoy that the remarks “reflect a lack of knowledge or willful neglect of the facts regarding the electoral process, which was held in a fair and transparent manner, received the attention of the international community and was followed up by local, regional and international organizations.”

Unofficial final results from Egypt’s May 26-28 presidential election showed former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi winning some 23.5 million votes.

His sole rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, failed to surpass the million-vote mark.

Official vote results are expected on Tuesday.

Abdel-Ati also stated that Egypt could have “criticized the results of Turkey’s recent local elections, which were dominated by the ruling Justice and Development Party [AKP] amid accusations of rigging, especially in Ankara, which prompted thousands of Turks to protest.”

“But we didn’t do that based on our longstanding principle of not interfering in other nations’ domestic affairs. We expect the Turkish side to understand and respect the choice of the Egyptian people,” he said.

Relations between Cairo and Ankara soured after last July’s ouster of Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, by the army.

Last November, Egypt downgraded its diplomatic relations with Turkey to the level of charge d’affaires and recalled its ambassador from Ankara. Turkey responded with similar measures.