Erdogan visits Cairo
Turkey and Egypt end ice age
February 14, 2024, 7:07 p.m
Relations between Egypt and Turkey have been anything but harmonious for more than ten years. Now Turkish President Erdogan is visiting his counterpart Al-Sisi in Cairo for the first time. The two regional powers are on the same side on at least one issue.
After years of diplomatic ice age, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi have become closer again. “I am convinced that this visit will be a new turning point in our relations,” Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Al-Sisi in Cairo. He spoke of a “new chapter” in the relations between the two countries. The rapprochement came as part of a turnaround in Turkish foreign policy after the leadership found itself very isolated regionally.
The most important topic at the meeting was the war in Gaza, said Al-Sisi. Turkey will work with Egypt to stop the bloodshed, said Erdogan. He again called for a ceasefire in the Gaza war and directed sharp criticism at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli attacks on Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip are “madness” that should not be allowed.
Negotiations about a new ceasefire in the Gaza war and about the release of further hostages held by the Islamist Hamas have recently made slow progress. Talks on Tuesday in Cairo with top representatives from the USA, Israel, Qatar and Egypt did not produce any new breakthrough. Although Erdogan repeatedly attacks Israel sharply over its actions in the sealed-off coastal strip, he is not a main negotiating player. Egypt, along with Qatar, is an important mediator in the war.
Al-Sisi announces visit to Turkey
Al-Sisi received Erdogan with military honors in the presidential palace in the Egyptian capital and praised Turkey’s cooperation in delivering aid to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. He wants to travel to Turkey in April at Erdogan’s invitation.
The political dispute between Turkey and Egypt escalated in 2013. Al-Sisi and Erdogan met at the end of 2022 on the sidelines of the World Cup in Qatar, but it was the Turkish president’s first visit to Egypt since 2012. In 2013, the Turkish government had the then Islamist president deposed Mohammed Morsi in Egypt repeatedly described as an illegitimate “military coup” by the army. After Morsi, Al-Sisi came to power.
The Egyptian leadership in turn accused Turkey of supporting Islamist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood in the region. Egypt acts very harshly against their supporters, and many of them are in prison. Both countries withdrew their ambassadors in 2013 and did not send them again until 2023. Egypt and Turkey support different sides in the Libya war. There are also disputes over natural gas deposits that are suspected in the eastern Mediterranean.