Turkish Premier Tayyip Erdogan’s planned visit to the Gaza Strip has been scuppered by Egypt, claimed Egyptian news site Youm7 Sunday.
According reports quoted by Israel Radio, the Islamist leader’s long-anticipated tour of the Hamas-controlled territory, thought to be scheduled for later this month, was blocked by Cairo’s military-backed interim government over his support for ousted President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood party.
Erdogan has criticised the West over its reaction to the ongoing Egyptian constitutional crisis, most notably its reticence to label the military’s ousting of Morsi, amid widescale public protests which greeted his first anniversary in office, as a coup
Palestinian news agency Ma’an meanwhile quoted Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri’s claims the vetoed trip was in response to “the premise that the Hamas movement is hostile”. “This is a dangerous development, which confirms that the current powers in Egypt are giving up on national causes and even using these issues to deal with other parties, first among them the Palestinian cause,” he added.
Erdogan, who this year agreed to thaw the standoff in diplomacy with the Jewish State following its freeze in the aftermath of 2010’s Mavi Marmara flotilla incident, has long been an outspoken critic of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has been under the rule of Hamas since it seized control of the region from rival Palestinian group Fatah in 2007. Hamas is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the US and the EU, with the US in particular insinuating its disappointment with the Turkish administration’s continued determination to visit Hamas in Gaza.
At a state department briefing in May, following Erdogan’s visit to Washington to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry as part of US plans to engage Turkey in its efforts to resuscitate the Mid East Peace Process, department spokesman Jen Psaki insisted that “we oppose engagement with Hamas, a foreign terrorist organisation which remains a destabilising force in the region”. Evading direct criticism of Erdogan’s outspoken legitimisation of the group, however, she added: “And we urge all parties who share our interest in the creation of a Palestinian state to take steps that promote the resumption of peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel. As you know, this is a big focus of the Secretary’s. He’s been spending quite a bit of time on this particular issue, and has expressed his concerns in the past.”
Morsi’s rise to power in Egypt as its first democratically-elected leader last year saw a downturn in relations between Erdogan and internationally-recognised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, as Turkey sought to cement its ideological alliance with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi is currently being held at an unspecified location along with other senior members of the Islamist group, on suspicion f colluding with Hamas as well as killing soldiers. Investigating judge Hassan Samir is understood to have interrogated Morsi over crimes including arson, destruction of prison records and "collaboration with Hamas to undertake aggressive acts in the country, attacking police facilities, officers and soldiers”. He is also accused of “killing some prisoners, officers and soldiers deliberately and with prior intent” as well as kidnapping members of the military.
Egyptian state news agency MENA reported authorities had also barred known Morsi-supporter Yemini Nobel Peace laureate Tawakul Karman from entering the country Sunday, with the Muslim Brotherhood confirming the writer and activist had participated in recent Cairo demonstrations calling for the former President to be reinstated. Karman, a key figure in Yemen’s own 2011 popular uprisings, had planned to join further protests against Morsi’s continued detention, but her plane was returned to its Dubai departure point.
Former presidential spokesman and Brotherhood official Yasser Ali described the developments as “an abandonment of the gains of Egypt’s January revolution”, equating the military action with that of former authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak’s longtime rule. Islamist activist Karman Friday released a statement criticising Morsi’s imprisonment and prosecution, insisting: "We can't allow this sense of disappointment in democracy to grow. This is terrifying. Rest assured the first beneficiary of the weakening currents of political Islam are violent terror groups."