Türkiye, Egypt pledge to further develop ties

MERSİN

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry traveled to Türkiye on Feb. 27 in a show of solidarity after the Feb. 6 earthquake disaster, marking the first visit in a decade of strained ties between Ankara and Cairo following the 2013 ouster of the former president of the Arabic country, Mohamed Morsi.

“Our visit [to Türkiye] is a message of friendship and solidarity,” Shoukry told reporters in a joint press statement with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, in the southern province of Mersin.

“We, as the Egyptian government and the Egyptian people, wholeheartedly believe that Türkiye will overcome this as soon as possible. It is a great disaster,” Shoukry said. “We will continue to do our best to help,” he added.

The people of both countries have expectations about the future, the Egyptian minister said, adding, “ Our wish is to restore relations to their former level.”

For his part, Çavuşoğlu said: “We open new pages in our relations with Egypt,”

The minister welcomed Shoukry’s visit to Türkiye and said it was “extremely important and meaningful.”

“We discussed what steps we would take to improve relations. The development of relations between Türkiye and Egypt is in the interest of both parties. It is also extremely important for peace, development and stability of our region,” he said.

Both ministers also headed to Mersin port to receive Egypt’s sixth shipment of relief materials as part of Cairo’s efforts to help Türkiye deal with the consequences of the devastating earthquake.

The ties between Türkiye and Egypt deteriorated after Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, toppled the country’s former president, Mohammed Morsi, in a coup after only a year in office in 2013.

Since then, ties between Türkiye and Egypt have been carried out at the lower level of charge d’affaires. During this period, brief meetings were also held on various occasions between the two countries’ foreign ministries.

Ankara and Cairo have exchanged positive signals since 2021 in an attempt to restore relations after years of political estrangement.

The first round of exploratory talks was held in Cairo in May 2021 upon an invitation from Egypt. On Sept. 8, 2021, diplomats from both countries held a second round of exploratory talks in Ankara as part of efforts to normalize relations, but the parties had not achieved much progress. Çavuşoğlu often expressed that the normalization process with Egypt had not gained the desired pace.