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Turkey hits back at Egypt for 'coup support'
Foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said on Sunday that Egypt's opposition "came as no surprise" because the Egyptian regime had "come to power through a military coup."
"It is natural for those who have come to power through coups to refrain from taking a stance against the coup attempt aimed at our president and government, who came to office through democratic elections," Bilgic said during a press conference.
Egypt, one of 10 non-permanent UN Security Council member states, blocked a UN Security Council resolution on Saturday backed by the United States condemning the attempted coup in Turkey.
Read more here: Egypt blocks UN resolution denouncing Turkish coup attempt |
The US, following consultations with officials from key NATO ally Turkey, had proposed a draft statement calling on all parties in Turkey to respect the democratically elected government of Turkey.
During a UN debate, Egypt argued that it was "not for the Security Council to decide whether the government is democratically elected," and it demanded that the relevant language be deleted from the resolution.
Egyptian newspapers jumped the gun on the coup bid [TNA] |
Egypt's relations with the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been particularly tense.
Erdogan is a main backer of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammad Morsi, the democratically-elected Egyptian president whom the army deposed in 2013.
Several Brotherhood leaders are in exile in Turkey, having fled a bloody crackdown against Islamists following Morsi's overthrow.
The Turkish leader has denounced that move as a "coup," angering the Egyptian general behind the overthrow, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is now president.
Egyptians woke up Saturday to headlines in pro-government newspapers announcing the coup had toppled Erdogan, despite it being quashed.
"The Turkish army topples Erdogan," declared a red banner on the front page of the state's flagship al-Ahram newspaper.
"Recep Tayyip vanishes," said the subhead.