CAIRO — Turkey condemned Oct. 15 the comments of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry regarding Ankara’s role in Syria, stressing that its military presence in the country not only aims at protecting its national security, but also ensures the Syrian territories’ sovereignty and unity. 

The spokesman for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hami Aksoy said in a statement, “These accusations are made up of delusions, which cannot be taken seriously whereas our country had martyrs in the fight against terrorism in Syria, embraced almost 4 million Syrians, protects the people from a cruel regime and terrorists in the north of Syria, and has made concrete contributions to the political process both in Geneva and within the Astana platform.”

During a virtual meeting Oct. 22 of the foreign ministers of the Small Group on Syria, Shoukry had said that the Turkish presence in Syria does not only constitute a threat for Syria alone, but it also seriously harms the whole region. Any plans to flare up extremism and transfer foreign terrorist fighters must not be tolerated, he added.

Tensions have already been high between Egypt and Turkey due to Egypt's condemnation of the Turkish violations in the eastern Mediterranean region, as Turkey insists on drilling for gas in the Mediterranean near the borders of Greece and Cyprus (riparian countries with Egypt). Meanwhile, Turkish forces and armed militias are deployed on the Libyan lands (bordering Egypt from the west) to support the forces of the Libyan Government of National Accord headed by Fayez al-Sarraj in their fight against the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar who is backed by Egypt.