Egypt: Erdogan’s ‘hateful’ criticism of our human rights

Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan’s remarks on Egypt’s execution of nine young men earlier this month is “hateful and reflect his continued embrace and support of the Muslim Brotherhood”, the Foreign Ministry in Cairo said yesterday.

Erdogan had called Egypt’s executions “a crime against humanity”.

“When you look at the figures, at least 42 people were executed since Al-Sisi took power and lately nine young people were executed,” he said in reference to the men who were killed for their alleged involvement in the 2015 assassination of Attorney-General Hisham Barakat.

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In response, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Hafez said: “Erdogan’s remarks are hateful and reflect his continued embrace and support of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“Such irresponsible comments come from a person who detained 175 journalists and at the same time there are more than 70,000 political prisoners inside Turkey.”

The statement also said that Erdogan had arrested scores of academics, including 27 who signed a petition in 2016 calling to end the 30-year conflict between Turkey and the Kurds.