World
Top Egypt, Turkey diplomats hold first Cairo talks in a decade
Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry and Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu say diplomatic relations to be upgraded to ambassador degree ‘as quickly as attainable’.
Egypt’s international minister has mentioned talks with Turkey on the potential for restoring ties to the ambassadorial degree would occur at “the suitable time” in the course of the first go to to Cairo by Turkey’s high diplomat since relations ruptured a decade in the past.
At a joint information convention on Saturday Egyptian International Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu mentioned Turkey would improve its diplomatic relations with Egypt to ambassador degree “as quickly as attainable”.
“I’m very glad that we’re taking concrete steps for normalising relations with Egypt … We are going to do our greatest to not rupture our ties once more in future,” Cavusoglu mentioned.
Shoukry mentioned: “We are going to come to talks (on restoring ambassadors) on the acceptable time, relying on the optimistic outcomes it brings.”
Ties between Turkey and Egypt had been severely strained after Egypt’s then-army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led the removing of Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, an ally of Ankara, in 2013. El-Sisi was elected president the next yr.
The 2 international locations have additionally been at odds in recent times over Libya, the place they backed opposing factions in an unresolved battle, and in addition over maritime borders within the gas-rich Jap Mediterranean.
Cavusoglu mentioned on Saturday that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egypt’s el-Sisi would meet “after the Turkish elections”, together with the presidential vote slated for Could 14, to mark the top of a decade of estrangement between the 2 international locations.
Diplomatic relations ‘nonetheless low’
Reporting from Istanbul, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar mentioned that two intertwined points stay unresolved in Egypt-Turkey relations.
“There’s a promise of restoring ties, however relations on a diplomatic degree are nonetheless fairly low,” mentioned Serdar, stating that the international locations’ opposing positions on Libya and the Jap Mediterranean are the principle sticking factors.
“Turkey and Egypt are supporting totally different sides. Turkey is supporting the Tripoli-based internationally recognised authorities [in Libya] whereas Egypt is supporting Benghazi, Khalifa Haftar and his military there,” mentioned Serdar.
Libya has had little peace for the reason that 2011 NATO-backed rebellion that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, and it cut up in 2014 between rival japanese and western factions, dragging in regional powers.
“In 2019, the East Mediterranean Fuel Discussion board was shaped … however Turkey has been purposefully excluded. In response, Turkey has signed a maritime take care of the Tripoli-based authorities,” Serdar added.
Consultations between senior international ministry officers in Ankara and Cairo started in 2021 amid a push by Turkey to ease tensions with Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
As a part of that tentative reconciliation, Ankara requested Egyptian opposition TV channels working in Turkey to reasonable their criticism of Egypt.
Morsi died in jail in Egypt in 2019. Different senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood are jailed in Egypt or have fled overseas, and the group stays outlawed.
Final month, Shoukry visited Turkey in a present of solidarity after the large earthquakes that killed greater than 50,000 individuals in Turkey and Syria.
Egypt’s authorities, which has been struggling to handle an acute scarcity of international forex, mentioned Turkish corporations had dedicated to $500m in new investments in Egypt.
World
Five convicted over Amsterdam clashes with Israeli football fans
Men found guilty of crimes including kicking fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv and inciting violence in chat groups.
A Dutch court has convicted five men for their part in last month’s violence involving Israeli football fans in Amsterdam.
The Amsterdam district court on Tuesday found them guilty of a range of crimes from kicking fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the street to inciting violence in chat groups.
The heaviest sentence imposed was six months in prison, for a man identified as Sefa O for public violence against several people.
The violence took place on November 8 during two days of skirmishes in the city, where the Israeli football fans clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League football match between their team Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax.
Videos shared on social media at the time showed Israeli fans chanting racist, anti-Arab songs, vandalising a taxi and burning a Palestinian flag.
The fighting broke out after that and was instigated by the Israeli fans, witnesses and a local councilman told Al Jazeera at the time.
Police arrested people who had beaten the Israeli fans, as global leaders made accusations of anti-Semitism.
The prosecutor in the case said the beatings had “little to do with football” but added that “in this case, there was no evidence of … a terrorist intent and the violence was not motivated by anti-Semitic sentiment”.
“The violence was influenced by the situation in Gaza, not by anti-Semitism,” said the prosecutor.
The most serious case under consideration by the court on Tuesday was Sefa, who prosecutors said played a “leading role” in the violence.
The court saw images of a man identified as Sefa kicking a person on the ground, chasing targets, and punching people in the head and the body.
Another man identified as Umutcan A, 24, received a sentence of one month for assaulting fans and ripping a Maccabi scarf from one of them.
A 22-year-old, identified as Abushabab M, faces a charge of attempted murder, but his case has been postponed while he undergoes a psychiatric assessment. He was born in the Gaza Strip and grew up in a war zone, his lawyer told the court, while Abushabab sat sobbing as his case was being heard.
A further six suspects are set to appear at a later stage. Three of these suspects are minors and their cases will be heard behind closed doors.
Police said they were investigating at least 45 people over the violence, including that carried out by fans of the Israeli club.
At an emotionally charged news conference the morning after the riots, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said the city had been “deeply damaged” by “hateful anti-Semitic rioters”.
However, Halsema later said she regretted the parallel she had drawn between the violence and “memories of pogroms”, saying this word had been used as propaganda.
World
Asia shares rise, dollar underpinned by elevated bond yields
World
US military carries out airstrike in Syria, killing 2 ISIS operatives
The U.S. military conducted an airstrike on Monday in Syria, where they killed a pair of ISIS operatives and destroyed a truckload of weapons, according to U.S. Central Command.
A precision airstrike in the Dayr az Zawr Province, which was formerly controlled by the Syrian regime and Russians, killed two ISIS operatives and wounded another, CENTCOM said.
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The operatives were driving a truckload of weapons, which was destroyed, when they were targeted in the strike.
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“This airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
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