Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has decided to expand the scope of a visit to Egypt and added Tunisia and Libya to the itinerary of his trip, which will take place next week at a time of increasing regional tensions.

“The prime minister had already announced his intention to visit these countries. He eventually decided to visit the three countries where the Arab Spring took place,” Today's Zaman quoted diplomatic sources as saying.

No statement was released after the coordination meeting between the top Turkish officials, with diplomatic sources saying that all of those ministers were expected to accompany Erdoğan during the first leg of his tour, which will be Egypt.

“The visit to Egypt had to be postponed a few times because of the political situation in Egypt,” the same sources highlighted, in an apparent effort to rule out a direct link between the timing of the visit and the escalating tension with Israel.