Turkey loves Egyptians as if they are our nation, claims Erdoğan

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used an interview with Aljazeera Arabic Channel on Thursday to stress the strong ties between the Turkish people and the Egyptians. Turkey’s president also emphasised his opposition to the 2013 military coup in Egypt which ousted elected President Mohamed Morsi.

“We differentiate between the Egyptian people and the Egyptian administration,” Erdoğan told Aljazeera. “The Egyptian people are everything for us… We love the Egyptians as if they are our nation.” He pointed out that because of the strong mutual relations, Turkey has always offered all kinds of support for Egypt.

The Turkish leader was scathing about his Egyptian counterpart. “Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was a defence minister in Mohamed Morsi’s team. Can you imagine that a minister in a team uses the army to carry out a coup against the president of his state?” It is, Erdoğan insisted, impossible to accept this.

“We support all freedoms and protect them,” he added. “We are the guardians of democracy and the Egyptian people will find us always very close in their fight for democracy.”