Egypt most important country in Middle East, ties will be stronger, says Turkish envoy

CAIRO – Anadolu Agency

'Egypt is the most important country in the Middle East, Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean,' Turkish Ambassador to Cairo Hüseyin Avni Botsalı said Oct 26 at a dinner banquet. File photo/ DHA

Turkey’s ambassador to Cairo has lauded Egypt as a key regional player, saying relations between the two countries would be stronger than ever.

“Egypt is the most important country in the Middle East, Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean,” Hüseyin Avni Botsalı said Oct. 26 on the sidelines of a dinner banquet hosted by the embassy to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic.

“The establishment of a system that serves democratic values would be a guarantee for the region’s future,” he added.

Relations between Turkey and Egypt have been tense since the Egyptian army’s ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, a move that Ankara has described as a military coup.
 
“Relations between the people of Turkey and Egypt go back more than 1,000 years, and the Turkish people have always shared the happiness and sorrow of the Egyptian people,” Botsalı said, voicing optimism that relations between the two nations would be “stronger than ever.” “The common interests of both countries will remain as strong as they have been in the past,” he said.
 
The ceremony was attended by members of the Turkish community in Egypt, along with a number of diplomats and businessmen.