Middle East will be in turmoil if Mohamed Mursi is executed, says Turkish President

Turkey's presidential spokesman said on Monday that the Middle East would be thrown into turmoil if death sentences handed down in Egypt to former president Mohamed Mursi and other senior Islamist figures were carried out.

Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference in Ankara that Turkey would work with the U.N. Human Rights Commission following the sentences, and take "all necessary steps". Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is a vocal supporter of Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi, Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohammed Badie and over 100 other Islamists were sentenced to death on Saturday by a court in Cairo over mass prison breaks during the 2011 uprising.

Mursi and 130 co-defendants, including Brotherhood leaders Badie, Mohamed Saad El-Katatni, Essam El-Erian, Mohamed El-Beltagy and Safwat Hegazy, were charged in the case.

Saturday's capital punishment ruling against Mursi makes him the first president in Egypt's history to face the possibility of death by hanging if court ratifies its initial decision on June 2 or he loses his projected appeal. Many of those sentenced were tried in absentia. They were accused of damaging, setting fire to prison buildings, murder, attempted murder and looting prison weapons depots while allowing prisoners to break out of jails.