Erdoğan holds phone talks with Merkel, Ayrault over Egypt, Syria

ISTANBUL

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged his counterparts to exert pressure on the interim government in Egypt. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held two phone conversations with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault and German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the latest developments in Syria and Egypt.
 
In the conversations, Erdoğan stressed the importance of releasing the political prisoners in Egypt and demanded the interim government for assurances that elections would be organized as soon as possible, according to daily Hürriyet.
 
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is currently in Cairo in talks with the interim leaders. The ties between Turkey and Egypt were strained after Ankara adopted the harshest stance against the military takeover on June 3, slamming the army for staging a coup and for opening fire on Morsi supporters.
 
With respect to Syria, Erdoğan repeated the international community’s responsibility to act, the report said.
 
Syria’s opposition is due to meet in Istanbul to form a new government while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed Aug. 1 his confidence that the regime’s troops would be victorious in the conflict that caused more than 100,000 deaths according to the United Nations.