Egypt decided Saturday to expel Turkish Ambassador Huseyin Avni Botsali after remarks made by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Cairo deemed as being "provocative"

Egypt decided Saturday to expel Turkish Ambassador Huseyin Avni Botsali after remarks made by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Cairo deemed as being "provocative," the foreign ministry said.
     
Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said Cairo took three decisions on Saturday concerning its diplomatic ties with Ankara. "First to expel the Turkish ambassador and downgrade our ties to the level of charge d'affaires, second to declare the Turkish ambassador persona non grata and third we will not send our ambassador to Turkey," Abdelatty told AFP.
  
He said the decisions were taken after Erdogan made remarks in Russia on Thursday that were "provocative and interfering in Egypt's internal affairs." The Turkish premier condemned an August 14 crackdown by Egyptian security forces on supporters of ousted president Mohammad Mursi in Cairo.

In response, Turkey declared Egypt's ambassador "persona non grata" and downgraded diplomatic relations to the level of charge d'affaires on Saturday, in a tit-for-tat move after Cairo expelled its envoy, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
  
The ministry said it summoned Egypt's charge d'affaires to inform him that "our relations were downgraded to the level of charge d'affaires and Egyptian Ambassador Abderahman Salah El-Din ... is declared persona non grata in line with the reciprocity principle that forms the basis of international relations."