Egypt court to consider lawsuit against Turkey

ALEXANDRIA - Anadolu Agency

An Egyptian court has set Feb. 24 as the date to consider a lawsuit demanding that Turkey be designated as a “state that supports terrorism,” a judicial source has said.“The court of urgent matters in the coastal city of Alexandria scheduled the first hearing in the case for Feb. 24,” the source told semi-official state agency Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.He added that a lawyer called Tarek Mahmoud had filed the lawsuit at the court, which made the decision to consider the case on Feb. 7.The judicial source said Mahmoud had claimed in his case that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had supported the Muslim Brotherhood movement and criticized Egypt following the ouster by the army of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.The brotherhood, the movement from which Morsi hails, was declared a terrorist organization by the Egyptian government in December 2013.The judicial source added that the lawyer filing the case also claimed that Turkey was the main source of arms entering Egypt that ended up in the hands of terrorists.“Turkey [has adopted] hostile stances against Egypt after it became a haven for Muslim Brotherhood leaders who face criminal charges in Egypt,” the judicial source quoted Mahmoud as saying in his lawsuit.The source said the lawyer noted in his case that Turkey had also hosted several meetings of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood and hosted satellite channels owned by some of the group’s leaders.The Turkish government has yet to comment on the lawsuit.Relations between Egypt and Turkey have continued to deteriorate since Morsi’s ouster.