ALEXANDRIA 

An Egyptian court on Saturday set Feb. 24 for considering a lawsuit, demanding the designation of Turkey 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 Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.

He added that a lawyer called Tarek Mahmoud had filed the lawsuit at the court. report Middl Eeast Monitor

The judicial source said Mahmoud had claimed in his case that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had supported the Muslim Brotherhood movement and criticised Egypt following the ouster by the army of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July of 2013.

The Brotherhood, the movement from which Morsi hails, was declared a “terrorist organisation” by the Egyptian government in December of 2013.

The judicial source added that the lawyer filing the case also claimed that Turkey was the main source of arms entering Egypt and ending up in the hands of terrorists.

“Turkey adopts 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.

He added that the lawyer noted in his case that Turkey also hosted several meetings of the international organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood and hosted satellite channels owned by some Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

The Turkish government has not commented on the lawsuit yet.

Relations between Egypt and Turkey have continued to deteriorate since Morsi’s ouster in 2013.

February/08/2015