Cairo has ignored statements made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the Arab-European summit, which was held on Feb. 24-25 in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, describing them as mere “attempts to attract attention.”
In an interview with Turkish media on Sunday, Erdogan criticized the regime of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and its recent decision to execute nine persons found guilty in the 2015 assassination of Attorney General Hisham Barakat.
“Unfortunately, Western countries continue to insist on supporting Sisi,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.
In response, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said in a televised statement to MBC Egypt TV: “We try to avoid falling to this level” of rhetoric.
“We believe that those statements were intended … to target the conference of Arab and European countries … which emphasized Cairo’s pivotal role,” he said.
“We look at these statements as an attempt to attract attention; we are preoccupied with what is more important than heeding such hatred,” he added.
Commenting on Qatar’s criticism of the invitation it has received to attend the summit, Shoukry said the invitation conformed to the state of relations between the countries. “This is natural because ties have been severed,” he told MBC Egypt TV.
Sputnik news agency has quoted a source in the Qatari Foreign Ministry as saying that the invitation was not addressed to the Qatari Emir, but sent to the Greek Embassy in Doha, instead of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the League of Arab States.
