Normalization depends on correct steps of Egypt

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Thousands of people gather to support the deposed President Mohamed Morsi at a demonstration organized by the Felicity Party in Kazlıçeşme Square, Istanbul. For Ankara, the most urgent step Cairo should take is to release Morsi and other high-level officials and drop all charges issued against them. AA photo

Deteriorated ties between Ankara and Cairo after the Egyptian army’s coup against the country’s first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi can only be repaired if the current regime takes correct and efficient steps to lead the country toward democratization, according to the Turkish government.

For Ankara, the most urgent step Cairo should take to this end is to release Morsi and other high-level officials and drop all charges issued against them in the aftermath of the military coup on July 3. The second step to follow is to shape the road map for democratization without excluding any political group in Egypt.

“You cannot announce elections when the leaders of the country’s strongest party are behind bars, and all of its assets have been frozen. The road map should be drafted with the inclusion of all parties, including Morsi and his party,” stressed Turkish diplomatic sources. “If this will be realized, this will of course be done by the Egyptian people and the regime. We are not going to cut our contacts but we’ll keep telling them what we have been saying throughout the course of the coup.”

Meeting with Çavuşoğlu

Last week, Egyptian Ambassador to Turkey Abderrahman Salaheldin launched a diplomatic campaign to avoid damage in bilateral ties and held talks with President Abdullah Gül, senior Foreign Ministry officials and visited Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, deputy leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) yesterday.

“The ambassador is expressing his views on the developments from his own angle and we are expressing from our own angle. We are continuing to be in dialogue with Cairo but we’ll also continue to express that the current regime is not legitimate,” sources said.

The main message Salaheldin delivered to the Turkish government was the need to avoid deterioration in all fields of bilateral ties between the region’s two most important countries. It’s also known that strong-worded statements from Turkish officials that still see Morsi as the President of Egypt annoy Cairo. Echoing Erdoğan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu underlined yesterday, “We see Morsi still has been holding his post.”

Ankara observes that the international community has become closer to the Turkish government’s position recently, recalling calls for the release of Morsi from Washington and some European capitals.

The EU’s stance has also begun to change, according to Ankara, after it realized that the initial road map of the coup plotters was not a promising one. Davutoğlu is in constant dialogue with his counterparts from the region and the Western countries to urge them to put pressure on the military regime.