Islam Times - The reasons behind the cancellation of Merkel-Sisi's meeting

Islam Times - The meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations summit has been canceled, government spokesman Stephen Seibert said.

The meeting, which was scheduled for Monday was canceled, Seibert said. According to the German newspaper, "Tagess Zeitung." But the reasons are not political, but logistical, specifically because of the congestion of the New York agenda, and the congestion of Merkel and Sisi's schedule,".

On the other hand, Berlin demanded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Egyptian authorities to release people who have been arrested recently in the country, against the background of recent demonstrations.

A spokesman for the ministry pointed to information he described as uncertain about the arrest of about a thousand people after the demonstrations, adding that Germany made clear at the Human Rights Council in Geneva that "from our point of view, the growing repression of civil society and a free press will not contribute to the stability of Egypt."

In turn, Egypt expressed, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry, its condemnation of the incitement of "Turkish and Qatari" media against the Egyptian state and invited them to participate in the "supporting the chaos" demonstrations.

Shukri stressed that "Incitement claims will be rejected and will go down the drain." He added that this "incitement" will not receive any response inside Egypt, pointing out that “It shows a hatred of all that Egypt has accomplished in the past 5 years.”