Turkey and Egypt are warming up their cold relations. The Turkish Foreign Minister is visiting Cairo. The cause of the conflict has been the different attitude of the Muslim countries towards the Muslim Brotherhood.
15:15•Updated 15:15
In the turmoil of international politics, new alliances are being built and warmed up.
Visiting Turkish Foreign Minister in Cairo this weekend Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his host, the Secretary of State Sameh Shoukry assured that they would restore the countries’ relations to the “highest possible level”. This refers to, among other things, presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for the preparation of the summit. The meeting is expected to take place after Turkey’s spring elections.
The warming of relations has been helped by Egypt’s aid to the victims of the devastating earthquake in Turkey in February.
The ousting of Islamist President Morsi cooled relations
The president representing the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Morsi was ousted in 2013. Some critics of the current Egyptian government have fled to Turkey. There are especially representatives of the media close to the Muslim Brotherhood in the country. Egypt considers the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing illegal.
President Erdogan vowed in 2013 that he would “never talk to the likes of Sisi”.
Now the wind has turned and the president, who is looking for partnerships in many directions, is once again looking at Egypt. The leaders of the countries met in Qatar in November and have talked on the phone since then.
The business has flourished despite the intermediate crime
Despite the tensions in political relations, business relations have remained close.
In 2022, Turkey was Egypt’s most important destination country for imported goods. The value of imports was more than four billion euros.
On the other hand, issues of disagreement can be found in North Africa. Turkey has sent advisers to support Egypt’s ally Khalifa Haftar opposing forces. Haftar holds the eastern parts of Libya.
AFP