Mansour: Yes for cordial relations with Turkey, but no interference

Interim President Adly Mansour said late Tuesday that Egypt hopes to have "cordial" relations with Turkey, but asserted that Egypt would not accept any "interference" in its domestic affairs. "Neither we nor the Turkish people expected the stance taken up by the Turkish administration, which should not adopt the position of a particular faction [in Egypt]," Mansour said in an interview on state television. "We hope to have cordial relations with Turkey, but we don't accept interference in Egypt's domestic affairs," he added. Relations between Cairo and Ankara have cooled since the Egyptian army's July 3 ouster of Mohamed Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president – a move Turkey refers to as a "military coup." Last month, Egypt recalled its ambassador in Ankara for consultations. The move came hours after Turkey recalled its ambassador to Egypt Huseyin Avni Botsali. Asked if he expected Egyptian-Turkish ties to deteriorate further, Mansour said Egypt's interim government "will wait and see the Turkish stance in the future and adopt a position based on that stance." The Turkish ambassador is expected to return to Cairo on Wednesday.