Egypt's coup general and former defence minister Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has slammed the Turkish government for its stance on Egypt following the ousting of elected Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013.
Speaking to presenter Lamis Hadidi and journalist Ibrahim Isa on CBC and On TV, Sisi, who is also the favorite candidate to win Egypt's upcoming presidential election against his only contender left-wing Hamdeen Sabahi, said 'Turkey closed the door on itself with its actions'.
Revealing that his first official visit should he be elected president would be to Saudi Arabia, Sisi also added that recent military co-operation meetings with Russian officials should not be seen as an 'alternative' alliance.
Sisi also said that he respects all treaties between Egypt and Israel within the framework of internationally recognized agreements, but ruled out meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until the Israeli government did something to improve the conditions of the Palestinians.
Regarding Egypt's relations with Qatar, which has been under pressure by Egypt and Arab countries in the Gulf to back down from its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, Sisi said that Egypt was 'displeased' with Qatar's actions.
The Muslim Brotherhood movement, from which ousted president Mohamed Morsi hails, was listed as a 'terrorist' organization by the interim Egyptian authorities after they were blamed for a number of attacks on Egyptian security staff. The movement's leader, Mohamed Badie, faces possible execution after being referred to the country's mufti to receive the death sentence.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party-led government has been the most outspoken country against the military coup in Egypt and has condemned openly the massacre that took place on protesters in Cairo Rabia al-Adawiyyah Square on August 14, in which over 600 anti-coup protesters were killed.
Turkey has also slammed the Egyptian court's decision to issue the death sentence to 529 anti-coup activists in a hearing that only last 20 minutes. Following this, the court referred hundreds of other activists to the Mufti to receive the same sentence.
