ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Arinc said has Turkey strongly condemned "the mentally that topples the legitimate government and the president, fires on its own people and hands over the authority to someone else in Egypt."
Speaking at a press conference after a cabinet meeting Monday Arinc said Turkey would maintain its "principled and ethical manners" towards the incidents in Egypt.
"It is out of question to impose sanctions on the government which thinks that they have taken over the power," Arinc said.
Referring to the "historic and rooted relations" between the two countries Arinc said, "maintaining solidarity with Egyptian people, elected President Mohamed Morsi and the government is what we are trying to do."
Arinc said 8 million Egyptians participating in mass protests were against the military coup, adding that the number of people who welcomed the coup ha also decreased.
Arinc also rejected rumors that Egypt's ousted President Mohammad Morsi could be sent to exile in Turkey.
"It is an moral duty for Turkey to assess the situation positively if Morsi needs Turkey. But neither Morsi himself nor someone else has made such a request," Arinc said.
He said that there were nearly 8 thousand Turkish people in Egypt and they would be evacuated immediately if needed.
"There are also Turkish companies and their investments in Egypt. These companies employ 50 thousands Egyptians, contributing to the country's economy. If those companies were badly affected by the current situation in the country, Egypt's economy would be damaged the most."
Arinc said they called on other countries and institutions including the EU and member states of the Arab League and specifically the US to increase the international pressure on Egypt to protect democracy and prevent human rights violation in the country.
The Turkish deputy premier reiterated that all the leaders must be released and an interim government must be formed to hold early elections and Morsi must be reinstated.
