On Novomber 23, Egypt expelled the Turkish ambassador in Cairo, Huseyin Avni Botsali, and declared him a persona non grata. The Egyptian foreign ministry announced that it was not terminating all diplomatic ties with Turkey, but rather downgrading the relations to the level of chargé d'affaires. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Badr Abdel Aty, said the move came after repeated hostile rhetoric from the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan against the interim government in Egypt, formed following the ousting of democratically elected Islamist president Mohammed Morsi back in July. He added that Erdogan's comments two days earlier, in favor of deposed Morsi and critical of the ongoing trial against him, were the last straw. The Turkish government provided great support to Morsi in his bid for presidency after the overthrow of Mubarak two years ago. Following Morsi's victory, Turkey provided $2 billion dollars in aid to Egypt. Turkish Prime Minister received a hero's welcome in Egypt in his first official visit to the country after Morsi's election. Erdogan saw himself as a mentor for Morsi and hoped that Turkey would be the model Egypt would thrive to become. For a year, Turkey saw Egypt as one of the most important allies in the Middle East due to the status of Egypt in the region, hence further emphasizing Turkey's position as a regional power. Thus, the ouster of Morsi came as a blow to Turkey's aspirations. The military move against Morsi left Turkey with a regime in Egypt that stands for all the opposite values to those of the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which indeed has Islamist roots and sees eye to eye with the Muslim Brotherhood on a plethora of issues. The AKP felt as if its foster-child in Egypt was under what Islamists in Turkey had gone through for decades under the ultra-secular Turkish military. Therefore, Erdogan and his government were the first to call what happened in Egypt a "coup". Erdogan stated repeatedly, following the July events, that he considered Morsi to be the only legitimate president and that he did not recognize the "military appointed government". In addition to government's rhetoric, the first action against the newly formed government in Egypt came after the security forces' attack on the sit-in in Rabaa Square staged by Morsi supporters, which left more than a 1,000 people killed and hundreds injured. The Turkish government reacted by recalling its own ambassador in Cairo, but was sent back to Egypt three weeks later. Erdogan as defiant as usual, responded to the expelling of his government's ambassador by flashing the Rabaa gesture, by raising 4 fingers, during one of his speeches following the news. "We will not give up on standing next to the right thing, even if that makes the coup government in Egypt uncomfortable" Erdogan said during a speech addressing his party's deputies on November 26. Other government officials, while criticizing the move itself, tended to downplay Egypt's decision. Turkish Foreign Ministry, criticized the fact that Egypt leaked the news to the media before consulting with envoys. But Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davoutoglu, said during a visit to Bahrain, that "Egypt is Turkey's historical friend and will continue to be so," adding that Turkey's stance against the coup in Egypt was not to intervene in Egypt's domestic affairs stressing that his government would stand by and support any democratically elected government in Egypt. Turkish President Abdullah Gul called the situation "temporary" and hoped that Turkey and Egypt would soon revise their relations. Turks slammed Egypt's decision as an overreaction and somehow an insult to their government's official, while some argued Erdogan was to blame because of his extreme and hostile rhetoric against the new interim government in Egypt and his exaggerated support of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. On social media, opponents of the AKP government entertained the idea that that Turkey has moved from the "zero-problems with neighbors" foreign policy championed by the Davoutoglu, to a "zero-friends in the region" reality. Back in Egypt, some observers and media outlets applauded the decision to expel the Turkish ambassador with some calling it "an overdue step". However, some went as far as digging into the depth of the Turkish government's involvement in opposing the new government in Egypt. An Egyptian newspaper, Alyoum Alsabea, published an exclusive report on its Monday, November 25, addition that claimed that the Turkish ambassador was aiding the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt by harboring some of their activists. The Turkish ambassador was, according to the paper's website, using funds from United States, Germany and France to incite violence and spread chaos in Egypt to discredit the army and the new interim government. Citing high ranked unnamed Egyptian officials, the paper also said that the Turkish intelligence was providing financial and logistical support to the armed cells of Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist militias in Sinai and the Gaza Strip. Also, speaking to Egyptian satellite private channel ONTV November 26, General Mamdouh Atiya, an expert on national security and intelligence, claimed that the Turkish intelligence had been meeting with Islamist militias in Egypt who together allocated $25 million for targeting military officials and institutions in order to "destabilize the country's most important structure". This new episode in the already trembling ties between Turkey and Egypt comes as observers see Turkey rethinking its foreign policy in the region especially towards the Syrian conflict. "Turkey is trying to break out of its regional isolation due to a series of miscalculations by the Erdoğan government concerning the Middle East." Semih Idiz argued in his recent piece for the Hurriyet Daily News website. "Its fresh approach to ties with Iraq and Iran show this." Yet, Idiz argued that in regards of Egypt Prime Minister Erdogan ought to abandon his "Islamist agenda internationally and try instead, in the same cold-blooded manner of most countries, to promote the interests of Turkey."
