’Lack of jurisdiction' prevents Egypt court hearing Turkey lawsuit

An Egyptian court said on Tuesday that it lacked jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit calling on Egypt to sever diplomatic ties with the Turkish government, a judicial source has said.

"The Administrative Court ruled that it lacks jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit urging the Egyptian government to sever ties with its Turkish counterpart," the source, requesting anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency.

"Matters of international relations are sovereign and lay outside the court's jurisdiction," the source said.

Two other lawsuits that call for designating Turkey a "supporter of terrorism" are currently before Egyptian courts.

Relations between Egypt and Turkey have soured dramatically since the army ousted President Mohamed Morsi - Egypt's first freely elected leader - in mid-2013.

Turkey has been among the few countries to describe the 2013 seizure of power by the Egyptian army - headed at the time by current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi - as a "military coup."