DHAKA: Turkey’s envoy to Egypt, recalled last month after a crackdown on supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi, was returning to Cairo on Wednesday, but Egypt said it would not reciprocate until Turkey stopped its ‘interference’.

Relations between Ankara and Cairo have all but broken down since Mursi, whose Muslim Brotherhood has close ties with Turkey’s ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party, was toppled by the army in July following mass street protests.

Turkey has emerged as one of the fiercest international critics of Mursi’s removal, calling it an ‘unacceptable coup’, and repeatedly urging the UN Security Council to step in.

A senior Turkish official said the Turkish ambassador, recalled after more than 600 people were killed when security forces broke up protest vigils in Cairo on August 14, would return to Cairo on Wednesday evening, reports The Jerusalem Post.

However, an Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman said Cairo’s ambassador, recalled from Ankara by the interim military-backed government in response to Turkey’s move, would not return ‘until Turkey stops interfering in Egyptian affairs’.

BDST: 2054 HRS, SEPT 04, 2013
RoR/SRS