CAIRO: Turkey’s prime diplomat mentioned Saturday President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would meet to mark the tip of a decade of estrangement between the 2 nations.
Turkish International Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, talking alongside his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry throughout a go to to Cairo, mentioned Ankara needed “to revive diplomatic relations between the 2 nations on the highest degree”.
Shoukry mentioned there was a “political will coming from the presidents of our two nations… in search of to normalise relations”.
Cavusoglu’s go to follows a visit by Shoukry to Turkey final month to point out solidarity after the devastating earthquake that claimed tens of hundreds of lives in Turkey and neighbouring Syria.
“It’s attainable that we’ll disagree sooner or later, however we’ll do all the pieces to keep away from breaking our relationships once more,” Cavusoglu mentioned.
Relations bumped into hassle after the 2013 ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, an ally of Turkey.
On the time, Erdogan mentioned he would “by no means” communicate to “anybody” like Sisi.
However in November, Sisi and Erdogan shook arms in Qatar, in what the Egyptian presidency heralded as a brand new starting of their ties, and the 2 leaders then spoke by phone after the February 6 earthquake.
Cavusoglu on Saturday mentioned the assembly between Erdogan and Sisi would happen “after the Turkish elections”, together with the presidential vote slated for Might 14.
Whereas diplomatic exchanges have been as soon as frosty, enterprise by no means stopped: in 2022, Turkey was the biggest importer of Egyptian merchandise totalling $four billion.
However disagreements stay, with Turkey house to Arab journalists vital of their governments, particularly Egyptian media near the Muslim Brotherhood, a gaggle outlawed by Cairo.
Cairo and Ankara additionally disagree over Libya, the place Turkey has despatched army advisers backing forces against Egyptian ally Khalifa Haftar, the jap based mostly Libyan army strongman.