Dialogue better than war of words, Turkish PM suggests to Egypt

ANKARA

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Turkey and Egypt should come together and discuss ways to find a mutual understanding on their different points of view, the Turkish prime minister has said, describing the importance of the Arab country as “the backbone of the Middle East.”

“I want to underline: Egypt is the backbone of the region. The region’s stability will be resilient if Egypt is strong. There will be problems in the region if Egypt is in trouble. This is how we think; they either accept it or they don’t,” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said in an address to opinion-makers from various Arab countries at a meeting late Jan. 21 in Davos.  

Egypt can only find stability by acquiring legitimacy through the free will of the country’s people, Davutoğlu said.

Turkey and Egypt withdrew their ambassadors from each other’s capitals last year as part of tension following the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi in a 2013 military coup staged by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is now the country’s president. Turkey has remained the strongest opponent to el-Sisi’s leadership, frequently directing accusations at the Egyptian leader.

“Instead of reciprocal accusations, we should come together and talk; we should try to understand each other. We, as Turkey, have no political agenda with any other country. Just like Tunisia. We feel great pride and happiness with [Tunisia]. I want to congratulate all Tunisians. It’s a success story,” Davutoğlu said. 

The prime minister underlined that Turkey would never recognize the military coup in Egypt out of “respect for its own values.”

“We have [said this] and will continue to do so. We hope that the Egyptian people and our Egyptian friends will be able bring about a more inclusive government,” he added.

Some reports have suggested that Qatar has launched a mediation process between Ankara and Cairo after Doha changed its policy toward Egypt and announced its support for the el-Sisi government.