ANKARA – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday attended anIstanbul prayer service for former Egyptian leader Mohamed Morsi who diedafter collapsing during a trial hearing in a Cairo court.
Erdogan, a key supporter of Morsi, joined the afternoon prayers at thehistoric Fatih mosque, an AFP photographer reported. He called the leader,who died on Monday, a “martyr”.
Turkey´s relations with Cairo deteriorated after the Egyptian military,then led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ousted Morsi in 2013. Sisi then becamepresident.
Erdogan has strongly condemned Morsi´s ouster, describing it as a “coup”.
On Tuesday, he denounced the Egyptian authorities for burying himdiscreetly with only a small number of family members and confidantspresent.
“They are so cowardly that they could not even deliver his body to hisfamily,” Erdogan said.
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Morsi, Egypt´s first democratically elected president in 2012 after theArab Spring uprisings, was overthrown after a turbulent year in power.
He was buried on Tuesday, as rights groups including Amnesty Internationaland Human Rights Watch called for an independent probe into the causes ofhis death.
Earlier, thousands joined in prayer in the Istanbul mosque for Morsi.-APP/AFP
