Thousands of Turks on Friday protested the bloody crackdown on demonstrators loyal to ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, chanting that "Infidels are killing Muslims!"

Around 3,000 protesters performed a funeral prayer in absentia for the dead in Egypt at an Ankara mosque before marching to the US and Egyptian embassies in the Turkish capital.

The group waving portraits of Morsi unfurled banners, saying, "Those who spill Muslim blood will drown in their own blood!"

Some of the young protesters had their faces painted in the horizonal red, white and black bands of the Egyptian flag.

"The Islamist movement cannot be stopped!" they shouted.

In Istanbul, more than 1,000 protesters gathered in front of a mosque, shouting "Get lost, Sisi!", referring to Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The violence in Egypt erupted on Wednesday when security forces moved in to break up pro-Morsi protest camps, leaving nearly 600 people dead.

Turkey's Islamic-rooted government, which nurtured friendly ties with Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement, has stepped up its criticism of the army's actions.

In a sign of escalating tensions, Turkey and Egypt recalled their respective ambassadors after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned on Thursday what he called the "massacre" of peaceful protesters.