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.