CANCELLATION OF WAR GAMES WITH EGYPT TURKEY'S OWN CALL: SPOKESPERSON

Ankara, 10 Shawwal 1434/17 August 2013 (MINA) – Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Levent Gumrukcu on Friday said the decision to cancel a planned joint naval military exercise with Egypt was made by Turkish authorities.

“Today (Friday) Egyptian authorities were informed about both the cancellation of NATO-led exercises with Egypt and the cancellation of a joint naval exercise between Turkey and Egypt,” Gumrukcu said in a written statement in an apparent denial of earlier media reports that Turkey-Egypt war games — scheduled for October 21-28 — was cancelled by the Egyptian authorities.

Turkey has fiercely criticized Wednesday’s violent police move to disperse two major protest camps set up by anti-coup demonstrators who condemned the July 3 removal of country’s first elected President Mohamed Morsi.

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Ankara urged the United Nations Security Council to convene to discuss the situation in Egypt, calling the police action a massacre, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

US government on Thursday said it had cancelled a biannual joint military exercise with Egypt following Wednesday’s deadly crackdown but the Obama administration stopped short of cutting an annual $1.3 billion military aid it provides to the most populous Arab nation, a key American ally with a peace treaty with Israel.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Ambassador to Egypt Huseyin Avni Botsali arrived in Ankara on Friday afternoon after being recalled for consultation.

Speaking at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport, Botsali said he would hold talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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“We will decide what to do in accordance with the decisions to be made by the government,” Botsali said.

Botsali added he would meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu within the shortest possible time.

Egypt has been in a state of turmoil since security forces on Wednesday violently dispersed two major protest camps set up by pro-democracy demonstrators who condemned the overthrow of country’s first elected president Mohamed Morsi in a July 3 military coup.

The Health Ministry has said that at least 638 people had been killed in nationwide violence since Wednesday, including 288 in Rabaa and 87 in Nahda.

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However, the official death toll remains far below that given by the pro-democracy alliance, which has put the number of deaths from the Rabaa sit-in alone at some 2,600.

Pro-democracy demonstrators are staging a fresh wave of rallies in several Egyptian cities today to protest Wednesday’s violent dispersal of their two main protest sites in Cairo and Giza. (T/P09/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).