ammonnews.net

Ammon News - Al Arabiya - Egypt downgraded its diplomatic relations with Turkey on Saturday and has asked the Turkish ambassador to leave the country, the foreign ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman said the Turkish ambassador to Cairo has been considered persona non grata and will be ordered to leave the country because of Turkey’s continued “interference” in Egyptian internal affairs.

Egypt has already recalled its own ambassador to Turkey back to Cairo, he added.

The spokesman also accused Ankara of backing unnamed organizations bent on spreading instability, in an indirect reference to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Turkey was “attempting to influence public opinion against Egyptian interests, supported meetings of organizations that seek to instability in the country,” said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Badr Abdelatty on Saturday.

Turkey continues to support the Muslim Brotherhood and has refused to recognize Egypt’s new rulers as legitimate.

The Turkish prime minister had openly criticized the Egyptian military’s assumption of power and its ouster of Islamist President Mohammad Mursi last July.

In response, the Turkish President Abdullah Gül said on Satruday that Egypt is undergoing an “extraordinary period” in Egypt and that Turkey hopes the situation is “temporary,” in statements carried by Turkish newspaper Todays Zaman.

Gül said Ankara hopes that democracy will be restored in Egypt very soon, and that “Turkey and Egypt are like two halves of one apple in the Mediterranean.”

“I hope things will get better,” he added.