Turkey has canceled two naval military drills with Egypt over the Arab nation’s violent crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood protesters that has killed more than 600. . . .

Levent Gümrükçü, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in his Twitter feed that Turkey conveyed to Egypt about its decision to cancel invitations to participate in the joint naval military exercise and another one within NATO.

From AFP:  Egypt and Turkey on Friday cancelled planned naval exercises, the latest escalation in a diplomatic row over the bloody crackdown on ousted president Mohamed Morsi’s supporters.

Both countries claimed to have made the decision the scrap the joint drills scheduled for October, with Cairo saying it had pulled out to protest Turkey’s “clear interference” in Egypt’s domestic affairs — an accusation Ankara denied. . . .

The Egyptian foreign ministry said it had cancelled the planned naval exercises in “protest at the unacceptable Turkish statements and actions which represent a clear interference in Egypt’s domestic affairs and stand against the will of the Egyptian people.”

But Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Levent Gumrukcu said that NATO member Turkey had in fact been the one to scrap the drills.

“We have made the decision on the cancellation of the naval exercise planned to be conducted with Egypt,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Today the decision on the cancellation of an invitation for both the exercise within NATO and the bilateral exercise has been conveyed to the Egyptian side. . . .”

Turkish leaders have hinted they will not cut ties with the new leadership in Egypt after Morsi’s ouster, despite their criticism of the army for ousting him.

Image: "The cancellation of an invitation for both the exercise within NATO and the bilateral exercise has been conveyed" to Egypt (graphic: Turkish Foreign Ministry)