Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry and Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu say diplomatic relations to be upgraded to ambassadorial stage ‘as quickly as potential’.
Egypt’s international minister has stated talks with Turkey on the potential of restoring ties to the ambassadorial stage would occur at “the suitable time” throughout the first go to to Cairo by Turkey’s high diplomat since relations ruptured a decade in the past.
At a joint information convention on Saturday Egyptian Overseas Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu stated Turkey would improve its diplomatic relations with Egypt to ambassadorial stage “as quickly as potential”.
“I am very glad that we’re taking concrete steps for normalizing relations with Egypt … We are going to do our greatest to not rupture our ties once more in future,” Cavusoglu stated.
Shoukry stated: “We are going to come to talks (on restoring ambassadors) on the applicable time, relying on the constructive outcomes it brings.”
Ties between Turkey and Egypt have been severely strained after Egypt’s then-army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led the elimination of Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, an ally of Ankara, in 2013. El-Sisi was elected president the next yr.
The 2 nations have additionally been at odds in recent times over Libya, the place they backed opposing factions in an unresolved battle, and in addition over maritime borders within the gas-rich Japanese Mediterranean.
Cavusoglu stated on Saturday that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egypt’s el-Sisi would meet “after the Turkish elections”, together with the presidential vote slated for Could 14, to mark the top of a decade of estrangement between the 2 nations.
Diplomatic relations ‘nonetheless low’
Reporting from Istanbul, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar stated that two intertwined points stay unresolved in Egypt-Turkey relations.
“There’s a promise of restoring ties, however relations at a diplomatic stage are nonetheless fairly low,” stated Serdar, declaring that the nations’ opposing positions on Libya and the Japanese Mediterranean are the principle sticking factors.
“Turkey and Egypt are supporting completely different sides. Turkey is supporting the Tripoli-based internationally acknowledged authorities [in Libya] whereas Egypt is supporting Benghazi, Khalifa Haftar and his military there,” stated Serdar.
Libya has had little peace because the 2011 NATO-backed rebellion that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, and it cut up in 2014 between rival japanese and western factions, dragging in regional powers.
“In 2019, the East Mediterranean Gasoline Discussion board was shaped … however Turkey has been purposefully excluded. In response, Turkey has signed a maritime cope with the Tripoli-based authorities,” Serdar added.
Consultations between senior international ministry officers in Ankara and Cairo started in 2021 amid a push by Turkey to ease tensions with Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
As a part of that tentative reconciliation, Ankara requested Egyptian opposition TV channels working in Turkey to reasonable their criticism of Egypt.
Mursi died in jail in Egypt in 2019. Different senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood are jailed in Egypt or have fled overseas, and the group stays outlawed.
Final month, Shoukry visited Turkey in a present of solidarity after the large earthquakes that killed greater than 50,000 individuals in Turkey and Syria.
Egypt’s authorities, which has been struggling to handle an acute scarcity of international forex, stated Turkish firms had dedicated as much as $500m in new investments in Egypt.
