US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the Egyptian army, which deposed president Mohamed Morsi, had intervened at the request of millions to protect democracy and had restored it.
Kerry made the remarks in an interview in Pakistan where he earlier congratulated the new government on an historic transition of democratic power in a country long dominated by the military.
He was asked by Geo television why the United States had not taken a clear position on military intervention against Morsi's democratically elected government.
"The military was asked to intervene by millions and millions of people, all of whom were afraid of a descendance into chaos, into violence," Kerry told Geo.
"And the military did not take over, to the best of our judgement - so far. To run the country, there's a civilian government. In effect, they were restoring democracy," he added.
The interviewer questioned him over allegations that Egyptian troops have shot dead people in the streets.
"Oh, no. That's not restoring democracy, and we're very, very concerned... I've been in touch with all of the players there. And we have made it clear that that is absolutely unacceptable, it cannot happen," Kerry said.
He said the United States was working with the European Union and other countries to see if the troubles in Egypt could be resolved peacefully.
"But the story of Egypt is not finished yet, so we have to see how it unfolds in the next days," he said.
