SAUDI KING BACKS EGYPT'S MILITARY, TURKEY RECALLED AMBASSADOR

Makkah, 10 Shawwal 1434 / 17 August 2013 (MINA) – Saudi Arabia’s officially stated its support for the Egyptian military, while Turkey has recalled its ambassador from Cairo.

Friday, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has called on Arabs to stand together against “attempts to destabilise” Egypt, Aljazeera quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its people and government stood and stands by today with its brothers in Egypt against terrorism,” he said in a statement read on state TV, backing Egypt’s military leadership.

He also said that they are confident that Egypt will recover.

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Saudi Arabia was a close ally of former president Hosni Mubarak and has historically had a difficult relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood.

It pledged $5 billion in aid to Egypt after Mohammed Morsi of the Brotherhood was ousted from the presidency last month.

Meanwhile, Anadolu Agency reports, 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.

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

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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.

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.

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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).