August 15, 2013 - 13:08 AMT
Erdoğan urges UN Security Council to convene on Egypt

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday, Aug 15 called for the UN Security Council to convene quickly and take action after what he described as a “massacre” in Egypt, Today’s Zaman reported.

"Those who remain silent in the face of this massacre are as guilty as those who carried it out. The UN Security Council must convene quickly," Erdoğan told a news conference before his departure from Ankara Esenboğa Airport for Turkmenistan on Thursday morning.

Erdoğan criticized the West’s stance on Egypt, noting that Western powers have avoided calling the military intervention 'a coup'. “During our telephone conversations, they don't deny that a coup has been staged in Egypt but when talking to the public they speak differently,” he said.

Turkish President Abdullah Gül also called the armed intervention "completely unacceptable," warning that the crisis in Egypt would have an impact on the entire Muslim world.

"Armed intervention against civilians, against people demonstrating, is completely unacceptable. I fear Egypt will be dragged into chaos. This is a dead end," Gül told reporters in the Turkish capital, Ankara.