ANKARA
Turkey has put forth conditions indicating that normalization of relations with Egypt to be unlikely in the immediate future, said a Foreign Ministry spokesman.
"If Egypt returns to full democracy, if Egyptian people's will is really represented in political and social life, then our relations with Egypt may normalize," Tanju Bilgic said in a press in Ankara on Wednesday.
Qatari intelligence chief Ahmed bin Nasser bin Jassem al-Thani is currently holding talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo to prepare for an upcoming joint summit between President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, according a local Egyptian newspaper.
Doha had supported the Muslim Brotherhood, in power prior to the 2013 coup d’état that made Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, president of Egypt.
Bilgic highlighted that Turkey had always supported the Egyptian people, but that the 2013 coup had been “cruel and (had) used disproportionate force against civilians."
Bilgic also said Qatari officials had made no “effort to mediate for Egypt and Turkey" during Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani’s visit last week to Ankara.
-Arrest warrant for Gulen
Bilgic also addressed the warrant issued for U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen’s arrest, saying Turkey would act accordingly with regards to the existing treaty of extradition with Washington
"As you know Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the arrest warrant had not arrived to his ministry yet," Bilgic said. "After the warrant is delivered to the ministry, then we should act accordingly with the treaty."
A Turkish criminal court issued an arrest warrant last Friday for U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen in a "parallel state" probe, following a request filed by Istanbul's chief public prosecutor.
The government describes as the "parallel state," a purported group of figures embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police, led by Gulen.
http://www.aa.com.tr/en
