Egyptian & Turkish officials meet in Cairo for the first time in decade

• Egypt’s government said that Turkish firms had pledged $500 million in new investments in Egypt.
• The next year, Sisi was elected president.
• Consultations between senior foreign ministry officials in Ankara and Cairo began in 2021.

Egypt’s foreign minister said talks with Turkey about resuming ambassadorial ties will take place at “the proper moment,” during Turkey’s top diplomat’s first visit to Cairo since ties were severed a decade ago.

At a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stated Turkey will strengthen its diplomatic relations with Egypt to ambassador level “as soon as possible”.

“I’m very glad that we are taking concrete steps for normalising relations with Egypt… We will do our best not to rupture our ties again in future,” Cavusoglu said.

Shoukry said: “We will come to talks (on restoring ambassadors) at the appropriate time, depending on the positive results it brings”.

Turkey-Egypt relations were severely strained when Egypt’s then-army chief, Abdul Fattah Al Sisi, led the removal of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammad Mursi, an Ankara ally, in 2013.

The next year, Sisi was elected president.

Shoukry visited Turkey last month as a display of sympathy following the massive earthquakes that killed over 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

In recent years, the two nations have clashed over Libya, where they backed opposite forces in an unresolved conflict, as well as maritime borders in the gas-rich Eastern Mediterranean.

Consultations between senior foreign ministry officials in Ankara and Cairo began in 2021, as Turkey seeks to reduce tensions with Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

As part of that fragile rapprochement, Ankara requested that Egyptian opposition TV outlets broadcasting in Turkey temper their criticism of Egypt.

Mursi died in Egyptian jail in 2019. Several key members of the Muslim Brotherhood are imprisoned or have fled Egypt, and the organisation remains illegal.

Last month, Egypt’s government said that Turkish firms had pledged $500 million in new investments in Egypt, despite the country’s severe cash shortage.

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