Turks protest jailing of pro-Morsi Egyptian girls

Thousands of Turkish people staged a protest in Istanbul Friday against Egypt's jailing of 14 young girls who backed the ousted president. The 14 girls, aged between 15 and 22, were sentenced to 11 years in prison for joining demonstrations against the military's ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in early July. Istanbul's protest was held outside Fatih Mosque after Muslims' Friday prayers. Some women protesters expressed to Xinhua their resentment toward Egypt's military-backed interim government and appealed for an immediate release of the young girls. "We gathered here to raise our voice about the imprisonment of our young sisters in Egypt. We also demand the release of other 18 thousands people who are imprisoned in Egypt because of their opposition to the coup," said one lady wearing a white scarf symbolizing the Egyptian all-white prison uniform. The protesters also urged the international community to take actions against the Egyptian authorities. Another woman protester said: "We do not understand why the world stays silent. We are here to protest all the dictatorships in the world. We are standing here against all kinds of violence happening in Palestine, in Syria and in Egypt." The head of Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation, Bulent Yildirim, said they are also unhappy about the international community's silence on what has happened in Egypt. "We want to see Sisi (Egypt's army chief) behind the bars instead of the innocent young girls." Earlier this month, the Turkish and Egyptian governments engaged in a round of diplomatic retaliation, with Egypt first expelling Ankara's ambassador and Turkey responding with a tit-for- tat measure. Egypt attributed its move to Turkey's interference in its domestic affairs, while Turkey accused Egypt of not respecting " the will of the people." In early July, Morsi was removed from presidency by the Egyptian army after millions of people took to the streets to demand his ouster. During his one year tenure, the Islamist leader was deemed to have failed to deliver his promise to reinvigorate the economy and improve the living standard.