Turkey slams Egypt FM’s remarks about its role in Syria

A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Hami Aksoy, on Saturday rejected accusations made by Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, that Ankara’s presence in Syria represent a threat to the country and severely harms the entire region.

“These accusations are made up of delusions which cannot be taken seriously, whereas our country had martyrs in the fight against terrorism in Syria, embraced almost 4 million Syrians, protects the people from a cruel regime and terrorists in the north of Syria, and made concrete contribution to the political process both in Geneva and within Astana platform,” Aksoy said in a statement.

The Turkish official added that Egypt’s responsibility is to listen to the expectations of the peoples and “serve to sustainable peace, security and stability in the region, instead of acting as the flag-bearer of the oppressive regimes, putschist parallel structures and terrorist organisations”.

During his participation in the “Small Group” meeting on Syria, Shoukry said the Turkish presence in Syria not only represents a threat to Syria, but also severely harms the entire region, adding that plans to fuel extremism and the phenomenon of transferring foreign terrorist fighters should not be tolerated.

Shoukry also accused regional parties of interfering “in a destructive manner in Syria”, adding that Egypt warns against “any attempts to make forced demographic changes in Syria”.

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