Turkey slams Mursi sentence

ANKARA: The Turkish presidential spokesperson said yesterday that the Middle East would be thrown into turmoil if Egypt carried out its death sentences on former president Mohamed Mursi and other senior Islamists.

An Egyptian court on Sunday sought the death penalty for Mursi and 106 supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood in connection with a mass jail break in 2011. A final ruling is expected on June 2.

Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference in Ankara the sentences were a “breach of justice” and called on the international community to speak out against them.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is a vocal supporter of Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, and relations with Egypt have soured since he was forced out of power by the army in 2013.

Diplomatic ties between the former regional allies were broken off after Erdogan repeatedly accused the new Egyptian government of carrying out a coup.

Speaking to Egypt’s state news agency, an unnamed Egyptian official said Cairo was “unsurprised” by the comments.

“The current regime in Turkey is a reflection of the ideas of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood.”

Turkey’s backing for the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist groups across the Middle East has harmed Ankara’s relations with other regional partners, including Saudi Arabia and Libya, since the Arab Spring erupted four years ago.