Tit-for-tat remarks between Egypt, Turkey on Morsi’s death

CAIRO- 20 June 2019: Commenting on Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s remakes which cast a shadow of skepticism about member of ousted President Mohamed Morsi’s death, Egypt Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that such “irresponsible” remakes are substandard.

Shoukry stressed Egypt’s full denouncement and readiness to challenge any threats.

“Erdoğan’s behavior, his consistent engagement in futile quarrels, and constant fabrications all reflect a desire to deflect attention from his domestic transgressions and to serve electoral purposes,” said Shoukry.

The Turkish president claimed that the Egyptian authorities “murdered” Morsi, describing his death as “assassination”. In his speech at Istanbul-held conference on Turkish domestic re-election, Erdoğan said that Morsi fainted at the court for 20 minutes and the Egyptian authorities did not provide a relief immediately, Anadolu Agency reported.

Erdoğan added that his country will do its best to sue the Egyptian authorities at the international courts, calling on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take an action concerning his accusations.

Morsi passed away during his retrial on charges of spying for Hamas on June 17 at a Cairo Criminal Court. Immediately, Egypt’s Attorney General Nabil issued a statement

detailing the circumstance around his death

, saying “No recent injuries were found on the body.”

Egypt’s Shoukry replied “Such idle talk that pervades his speeches and statements confirms the reality of his ties to the terrorist (Muslim) Brotherhood, which is an integral element in his narrow agenda that seeks to gain power by embracing and proliferating the extremist ideology formulated by the terrorist Brotherhood and adopted by al-Qaeda, Daesh, and other terrorist organizations.”

“Such an ideology has been utilized to propagate conflict and shed innocent blood, not to mention interfering in the internal affairs of states that such statements and courses of action represent,” Shoukry said.

“These statements are manifestly slanderous and are nothing but a source of derision and sarcasm; this whole matter is one more item to be added to the long list of transgressions that are not worthy of the standing of the brotherly Turkish people,” he said.

Shortly after the foreign minister’s comments, Erdogan told media reports at his residency in Istanbul on Thursday that the Egyptian government’s remarks on Morsi’s death are doubted by the public opinion in Egypt, calling on the United Nations to investigate into the death of Morsi, Anadolu Agency reported.

The Tit-for-tat attitude between Egypt and Turkey has brought back the war of words between the two sides at the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2014, when Erdoğan described the overthrow of Morsi by the military following June 30 Revolution as “a military coup”.

He said “Those who are objecting to the murders in Iraq and Syria and the murder of democracy in Egypt are subjected to certain unfair and groundless accusations and are most immediately accused of supporting terrorism.”

However, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry replied at that time “The Turkish president’s speech represents disregard and clampdown for the will of the Egyptian people that was embodied on June 30.”

Since the ouster of former President Morsi in July 2013, the relations between both sides have become strained. On Nov. 23, 2013, Egypt downgraded bilateral diplomatic relations with Turkey when it declared Turkish Ambassador Hussein Botsali a persona non grata.