ANKARA/ISTANBUL
Egypt has been accused of hosting a dictatorship following a court’s passing of the death penalty against more than 500 people on Monday.
The sentences on 528 suspected Muslim Brotherhood supporters – on charges related to violent riots in the southern Egyptian city of Minya last August – show that a dictatorship has been established in the country, Turkey's Deputy PM Besir Atalay said on Tuesday.
"Arbitrary trials are a characteristic of coup periods; we are deeply upset for the Egyptian people," Atalay said during a visit in the central Turkish city of Kirikkale.
Atalay predicted that the Egypt administration would not garner any benefit from the court ruling. "It will eventually backlash," he said.
The international community should step up its efforts to stop a massacre in Egypt said Cihangir Isbilir, coordinator of the International Rabia Platform.
Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul, Isbilir said “This is the largest single batch of simultaneous death sentences we’ve seen in recent years, not just in Egypt but anywhere in the world”.
Isbilir, describing the verdict as "a great shame on behalf of the human history", said "With this verdict the military government has showed its real face again. This military regime just wants to kill anybody who wants to express an opinion. The international community should step up its efforts to stop the massacre in Egypt."
Veysel Eroglu – Turkey’s minister for forestry and water affairs – said that Monday's death sentences were the first signs of a mass-scale murder. Eroglu told journalists that the death penalties were issued by a country ruled not by democracy but by dictatorship.
"It is a disgrace for history and will always be remembered as a disgrace," he said.
Turkey's minister for customs and trade, Hayati Yazici said the sentences were unacceptable.
"We have always expressed our concerns over the institutional and judicial environment in Egypt since the coup," Yazici said.
"There is no hint of humanity in these decisions."
- "It is a shame for democracy and humanity"
Egypt's first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi was toppled in July 2013 by a military coup led by Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Turkey's EU Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the sentences were a sign of a massacre, lawlessness and a lack of humanitarian values caused by the coup administration.
"Apparently, the judges there did not want to get tired and issued a mass verdict," he said.
Cavusoglu said actions like Monday's mass death sentences were inevitable when there was a military intervention into democracy.
"The international community should stand up in order to stop the execution of those who got the sentences," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Turkey's Health Minister condemned the death sentence, saying "It is a shame for democracy and humanity."
"I do not understand why the United Nations, European Union and the U.S. watch these events," he added.
Ayhan Sefer Ustun - chairman of the Human Rights Council of the Turkish Parliament - said the sentences were a massacre disguised as a court ruling.
"They committed massacres with tanks and guns before; now they do it with the judiciary," he said.
Meanwhile, a deputy chairman of Turkey's ruling AK Party called the mass trials a "farce."
"A play is being performed in Egypt's courts. I cannot understand how humanity remains silent to this," Ekrem Erdem said.
Erdem called on the international community to give a strong response to the death sentences.
Monday's trial lasted only two sessions, and has sparked worldwide condemnation.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
