Envoys recalled amid Egypt-Turkey spat

Egypt has recalled its ambassador in Turkey for consultations, the state news agency reported, mirroring a step announced by Ankara after Turkish criticism of Cairo’s crackdown.

Egypt’s ambassador in Ankara, Abdel Rahman Salah left Turkey on Friday after he was recalled by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.

Turkey also has recalled its ambassador to Egypt for consultations, a foreign ministry official said, following harsh condemnation by Ankara of a bloody crackdown by Egyptian security forces on supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

Egypt and Turkey on Friday cancelled planned naval exercises, the latest escalation in a diplomatic row over the bloody  crackdown on ousted president Mohamed Morsi’s supporters. 

Both countries claimed to have made the decision the scrap the joint drills  scheduled for October, with Cairo saying it had pulled out to protest Turkey’s  “clear interference” in Egypt’s domestic affairs – an accusation Ankara denied.

Turkey has emerged as one of the fiercest international critics of what it called was an “unacceptable coup” that saw President Morsi being ousted last month.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also demanded that those responsible for the August 14 massacre in Egypt be tried for “massacre,”  Turkish Anadolu news agency reported.

“Coup makers massacred those who wanted their votes to count in a democracy. The West never said that was a coup although they were confessing it was a coup in our private talks”, Erdogan said.

“Those who resisted against the military coup in Egypt, did not resort to violence, did not use weapons … The Egyptian people will gain their rights sooner or later,” he was quoted as saying.