Egyptian MP Ismail Nasr El-Din and other colleagues on Sunday called on the government to boycott Turkish products. Nasr El-Din said the call comes in response to the blatant transgressions by the Turkish government in the region, and its attempts to plunder the wealth of the Middle East, spread chaos, and destabilise the Middle East. "Such move would have an impact on the Turkish economy, which has been already suffering in recent years," he added. "Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan caused a significant deterioration in his country's economy, affecting the livelihood conditions of citizens, and he is now trying to do the same in other countries in the region," he said. The boycott request was sent to prime minister and minister of trade. On Saturday, the Congress Party presented a request to Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the necessity of severing economic and trade deals between Egypt and Turkey. Calls to boycott Turkish products circulated after the Turkish parliament's approval on 2 January to send military troops to Libya to help the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. The move has stirred outrage of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain. Moreover, MP Omar Sumaida, head of the Congress Party, said they presented a memorandum to the parliament to discuss suspending the free trade agreement with Turkey. Sumaida continued: “We launched a campaign to boycott Turkish products, as we should take a stance in order to stop the free trade agreement with Turkey," noting there is already a popular campaign that has been launched to boycott Turkish goods. He further added that his party have developed plans educate citizens to boycott Turkish products in all offices affiliated to the party across the country. Ahmed Helmi El-Sherif, congress party's spokesperson in parliament, said the extraordinary meeting will urge Arab countries to boycott Turkish products and for launching a popular Arab campaign to boycott Turkish products in the Arab world. Several top officials in Egypt including media personnel also criticised the move of Turkish parliament. They also called for severing economic ties with Turkey. Moreover, Naser Al-Turki, a member of the Federation of Chambers of Tourism, said that tourism companies started heading to other countries away from Turkey, as they focused on cooperation with Cyprus, Greece, and Arab countries such as Morocco and other countries. Al-Turki explained that the tourism movement between Egypt and Turkey does not exceed 30,000 people, and most of them are not tourists, but investors and businesspeople. He added that Turkish tourism was promoted through their TV shows, noting that there are 2 million Gulf people travel to Turkey annually. Prominent TV presenter Ahmed Moussa called on the Egyptians to stop buying Turkish products in order not to support their economy, during his TV show on Saturday night. Moussa said that the free trade agreement between Egypt and Turkey is still in effect until now, and that Egyptian markets are full of Turkish products, which gives Turkey more money to buy weapons. Meanwhile, El-Badri Deif, head of parliament's economic affairs committee, said “Arabs should stand united and boycott all Turkish products." The boycott campaign will put pressure on Turkey and show the Arabs' solidarity with Libya against Turkish military violation. “Boycotting Turkish products will help disrupt the military plans of Turkish president in the Arab world,” he added. The Wafd Party said on Saturday that there is a consensus among political forces in Egypt that Turkey's military intervention in Libya poses a grave threat to Egypt's national security. “This intervention aims to turn Libya into a fertile ground for terrorists and to ultimately target Egypt,” said the Wafd, urging Egypt's national and independent media to mobilise citizens behind President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi's policies which focus on helping the Libyan National Army, standing up to Turkey's military intervention and taking the measures necessary to protect Egypt's national security. Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Egypt are maintained at the level of Chargés d'affaires in both sides since 2013, when former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was ousted as Ankara offered the Muslim Brotherhood leadership refuge and protection while waging a media campaign against the new Egyptian government.
