Turkey's Embattled PM Pushes on with Maghreb Tour
Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan left Morocco for Algeria on Tuesday, the second leg of a North African tour, as the worst political crisis of his 10 years in power showed no sign of abating.
After arriving on Monday at the head of a senior ministerial delegation and accompanied by a large number of businessmen, he and Moroccan counterpart Abdelilah Benkirane signed a joint political declaration on developing strategic ties, official Moroccan media said.
The two Islamist prime ministers also inked accords on cooperation in the transport and maritime sectors.
Turkey has expanded its presence in North Africa in recent years, and Erdogan hailed the rise in bilateral trade with Morocco, which he said reached 1.5 billion dollars in 2012.
After visiting Algeria, he is due to travel to Tunisia on Wednesday and return the followint day to Turkey, where five days of anti-government demonstrations have now cost the lives of two people.
Public workers launched a two-day strike on Tuesday in support of the protests, following overnight clashes in Istanbul and Ankara between riot police and protesters who set cars ablaze, hurled stones and bellowed angry slogans.
Erdogan has largely dismissed the protests, insisting in Rabat on Monday that the situation was calming down, while accusing political "dissidents" of inciting the unrest.
Source: Agence France Presse
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