Turkey, which had formed an emerging alliance with Egypt's ousted Islamist leader Muhammed Morsi, on Thursday slammed the democratically elected leader's overthrow by the military as "unacceptable" and called for his release from house arrest. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government has been watching developments in Egypt with concern as the armed forces ousted Morsi, an Islamist and Egypt's first democratically elected president.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a televised statement that Morsi was deposed illegally through a "military coup" and said democratically elected leaders should only be ousted through elections. Underscoring the importance he attached to ties with Egypt, Davutoglu said he had cut short a visit to Asia to return to Turkey for consultations with Erdogan on developments. Davutoglu also called for the start of the election process so that power in Egypt is immediately returned to "elected authorities.
Earlier, Turkey's all-party parliamentary human rights commission also denounced Morsi's ouster while small protests were held in Ankara and Istanbul.
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