Turkey still opposed to Egypt's 'terrorist' blacklisting of Muslim Brotherhood, Cavusoglu says amid Ankara-Cairo detente

Turkey remains opposed Egypt's blacklisting of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group despite warming ties between Ankara and Cairo, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.

Cavusoglu affirmed that Ankara views the the transnational Islamist group as a legitimate political movement.

“We were against the coup in Egypt, not because it was the Muslim Brotherhood. If Sisi was in office that day and somebody else had carried out a coup, we would shown the same principled stance,” Cavusoglu told Turkish broadcaster Haberturk, referring to the 2013 military coup which eventually brought current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power.

“Our ties are not tied to one person or party. But, we are opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood being declared a terrorist organisation. It is a political movement that is trying to come to power through election,” he said.

Turkey resumed diplomatic relations with Egypt last month, marking a break with eight years of friction over the coup with removed Egypt's first democratically-elected president in 2013.

On Thursday, however, Cavusoglu claimed Turkey does not see "Libya as an area of competition" between the two states.

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