Turkey’s foreign minister blamed decade-long rift on ‘lack of dialogue and misunderstandings’
Egypt and Turkey plan to hold talks on restoring relations at ambassadorial level in what could mark a rapprochement after a decade of frayed ties between the two nations.
“I am very happy that we are taking concrete steps to normalize relations with Egypt… We will do our best not to sever our ties again in the future,” he added. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday during a visit to Cairo. His Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, added that the countries would have talks on the restoration of ambassadors ” timely “.
The Turkish minister blamed the long-running split on “misunderstandings and a lack of dialogue” while acknowledging the impact he has had on both countries.
“There’s huge untapped potential, but we’ve lost those nine years, and to close that nine-year gap, we have to work even harder,” said Cavusoglu, hinting at a possible official meeting between the presidents of the two countries, the Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Egyptian Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
In addition to seeking to improve diplomatic relations, Cavusoglu expressed the two parties’ commitment to advancing relations in the fields of energy, trade and transport.
“We want to improve our energy cooperation, we want to take concrete steps… There have been some disruptions in transportation issues. We want to revive them. We want to maximize our diplomatic relations,” said Cavusoglu, as reported by Turkish media Anadolu.
Relations between the North African nation and Turkey deteriorated after Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, an Ankara supporter and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was overthrown in 2013 by el-Sisi, who was then commander-in-chief of the Egyptian army. The following year, el-Sissi won the presidential election.
Senior foreign ministry officials in Ankara and Cairo began speaking in 2021 as Türkiye sought to defuse tensions with Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The two nations have recently been at odds over maritime borders in the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean and also over Libya, where they have backed opposing forces in the unresolved conflict.
Egypt is experiencing an economic downturn from which it is trying to extricate itself through various diplomatic means aimed at attracting foreign investment.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister said improving Turkish-Egyptian relations would be in the interest of both countries.
“There were Turkish investments in various fields in Egypt. Over the past few years, the trade volume between the two countries has grown to $9 billion. This is an important figure for both countries. In fact, Türkiye’s investments in Egypt had reached $2.5 billion,” he underlined.
In February, a group of Turkish businessmen met Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, the first such meeting in ten years.
The Turkish delegation has declared its intention to increase investments in Egypt by another 500 million dollars this year. The Egyptian Prime Minister guaranteed that investors would benefit from a secure business environment.
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