Egyptian FM to visit Türkiye for talks on Mideast tensions
Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Turkish counterpart are expected to discuss developments in the Middle East and the situation in Gaza during a weekend visit to Türkiye, a Turkish diplomatic source said yesterday.
Shoukry and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will also evaluate the latest developments in negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza, the source said.
The visit is part of diplomatic efforts in recent years to thaw the two nations’ frosty relations, notably including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s landmark meeting with Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah elSissi in Cairo last February after 12 years.
El-Sissi himself is expected to visit Türkiye this month or the next, although the exact date is yet to be confirmed. It would take place as Iran’s retaliation against an Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus fuels the crisis in the Middle East.
Türkiye and Egypt upgraded relations by appointing ambassadors last year. They had maintained diplomacy at the level of charge d’affaires since the 2013 military coup, which overthrew the late Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.
After Morsi was toppled, diplomatic ties were downgraded, but economic ties remained largely unharmed. In 2022, Türkiye was the largest importer of Egyptian goods, totaling $4 billion. In 2023, Cairo allowed Turkish citizens to obtain a visa on arrival, paving the way for advanced tourism.
Normalization accelerated after Erdoğan and el-Sissi shook hands in Doha at the World Cup in 2022 and gained further pace following the deadly February 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye, Erdoğan’s reelection in May and the appointment of ambassadors to each other’s capitals in July.
Since then, the two leaders met on the sidelines of the G-20 leaders summit in September and held conversations over the phone, particularly on the latest round of the Palestine-Israel conflict that broke out on Oct. 7.
Egypt is a leading actor in resolving the Palestine-Israel conflict and hosted talks with Hamas the day Erdoğan visited Cairo. It is also the only country with a safe border crossing for Gazans and delivery of humanitarian relief.
Türkiye, currently the largest aid provider to the Palestinian enclave, has delivered its shipments through the Rafah crossing in cooperation with Egyptian authorities so far.
Pundits have argued cooperation between the two countries could help push for steps to end Israel’s occupation policy and resolve the Palestinian issue.
Including in talks with el-Sissi, Erdoğan often reiterates the need for Muslim unity to end Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip that have killed at least 33,800 Palestinians in the past six months.
Fidan and Shoukry have also sought to strengthen the shifting global stance to stop Israel as part of the Gaza contact group of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Normalization could also lead to a breakthrough in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the region’s countries have overlapping claims on maritime borders and natural gas resources, notably with Greece and Libya.