Erdoğan embarks on a historic Mideast tour
ANKARA
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will travel to the United Arab Emirates and Egypt on historic visits both for regional and bilateral reasons amid the continued Israeli massacres against the Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Following the Cabinet Meeting held at the Presidential Complex, Erdoğan departed for Dubai to attend the “World Governments Summit 2024” upon the invitation of the President of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Prior to their departure to Dubai, Erdoğan and his entourage were bid farewell by Ankara Governor Vasip Şahin and other officials.
The delegation included top Turkish officials such as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır, and Trade Minister Ömer Bolat, who accompanied Erdoğan.
As part of the summit, Erdoğan will deliver a speech with the theme “Sustainability and New Global Transformations,” during which he is expected to convey significant messages about the deterioration of the world order as seen in the case of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
The Turkish president is expected to hold bilateral meetings with the UAE leadership and leaders from other countries attending the summit. More than 25 state and government leaders, as well as many ministers, statesmen and experts in their fields, will attend the summit, where Türkiye, Qatar and India are the guests of honor.
One of the main issues the leaders will discuss will be the ways to end the Israeli attacks on the civilians through a ceasefire which will be followed by efforts to resume peace negotiations between the two sides.
Erdoğan has recently vowed that Türkiye’s struggle for the Palestinians will continue until a sovereign Palestine state is created on the basis of 1967 borders and with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Boost in ties with the UAE
Erdoğan’s visit to Dubai will also pave the way for further boosting ties between Türkiye and the UAE. The two countries signed more than 40 agreements in various fields in the past three years as they established a high-level strategic council in the year 2023.
Ankara sees the UAE as a very important actor in developing international cooperation to tackle the problems in the region as well as for the improvement of ties between Türkiye and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The annual trade volume between the two countries has reached to $20 billion following a record 112 percent increase in trade over the recent years.
Historic visit to Egypt
Erdoğan’s last stop in his three-day tour will be Egypt, a regional heavyweight playing a crucial role in the ongoing crisis in the Israeli-Palestinian question.
President Erdoğan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi will discuss both the recent improvement in bilateral ties and regional issues. What makes this meeting a historic one is the fact that it comes after a 10-year break in the Turkish-Egyptian relationship. Erdoğan’s visit to Cairo is seen as the climax of the normalization process between the two countries that started in early 2021.
Türkiye and Egypt have appointed ambassadors in 2023 as a symbol of the new era. The two countries’ foreign ministers exchanged visits to increase the level of dialogue and accomplish the normalization process.
The latest presidential visit from Türkiye to Egypt was performed by former President Abdullah Gül in early 2013.
The talks between Erdoğan and el-Sissi will allow further deepening of the bilateral ties, especially in the fields of economy, trade, investments and defense industry. The goal is to increase the trade volume to $15 billion.
In a recent interview, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan informed Egypt’s intentions to supply armed drones from Türkiye. The issue will be discussed during the talks in Cairo.
Along with bilateral matters, Erdoğan and el-Sissi will review other regional developments, particularly the ongoing tragedy in Gaza. The close coordination between the two countries since the start of the Israeli aggression has allowed a more effective flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza from Türkiye, Ankara believes.
The situations in Libya, Somalia, Sudan and energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean will also be on their agenda.
