Following the anti-government protests in the middle of 2013 that led to the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi who was strongly backed by Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), signs of strained relations rose between the newly appointed interim government of Egypt and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government in Turkey, mainly due to Erdoğan's pro-Brotherhood views, culminating with the August 2013 sit-in raids in Rabaa and Nahda by security forces, where sit-ins organized by the Muslim Brotherhood were dispersed, leading to clashes that resulted in 638 deaths, of which 43 were police officers. The incident resulted in both countries recalling their respective ambassadors and was met with several verbal assaults by Erdoğan, who described the event as "anti-democratic" and referred to it as a "massacre," while suggesting that Egypt's leaders should be put under a "fair and transparent trial." This was followed by a suspension of military exercises involving the two countries. Erdoğan also accused the Egyptian military of conspiring with Israel to topple Morsi's government at an expanded meeting of the provincial chairs of his ruling AKP and claimed to possess "proof" for that: "This is what has been implemented in Egypt. Who is behind this? Israel. We have evidence". The claim was rejected by the Egyptian interim government, describing it as "baseless" and intended to "strike at the unity of Egyptians," with presidential spokesperson Ahmed Muslimani saying that "agents of the West should not give lessons in patriotism".