Egypt, Turkey meet for talks to reset ties

Egyptian and Turkish officials met on Wednesday for talks aiming to reset ties between the two regional powers after years of enmity.

The two-day “political consultations” in Cairo are chaired by Hamdi Loza, Egypt's deputy foreign minister, and his Turkish counterpart Sedat Onal. Egypt's Foreign Ministry, which announced the meetings in a statement late Tuesday, described the talks as “exploratory discussions” that would focus on “the necessary steps that may lead towards the normaliSation of relations between the two countries, bilaterally and in the regional context.”

The English-language version of Egypt's state-run Ahram daily quoted an unnamed Egyptian official as saying the talks came after a year of direct and indirect communications to avert a confrontation between the two US allies in Libya, where they back opposing side in the conflict. Egypt and Turkey have been at loggerheads since the Egyptian military’s 2013 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood group, supported by Turkey. Egypt has designated the group a terrorist organisation.

Recently, top Turkish officials signalled a warming of ties with Egypt, a shift from their previous, sharply critical approach to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah elSissi's government.

Turkish President

Recep

Tayyip Erdogan said on March 12 that the two countries have had “intelligence, diplomatic and economic” contacts, adding that he hoped for “strong” ties between the two nations. Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus said earlier this week that Ankara also wants to boost economic and trade ties with Cairo, which remains Turkey's biggest African trade partner, with a $4.86-billion-vlue in trade last year.

A week after Erdogan’s remarks, his government asked three Istanbul-based Egyptian TV channels linked to the Brotherhood to soften their critical political coverage of the Egyptian government, according to editors at the stations. The TV channels promptly stopped broadcasting some political programmes.

Egypt welcomed the move, calling it a “good initiative from the Turkish side that establishes a favourable atmosphere to discuss issues of dispute between the two nations.” —