Erdogan to make first visit to Cairo after near decade-long freeze in diplomatic ties
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Cairo next week for his first trip to Egypt since the two countries re-established diplomatic relations in 2021, putting an end to years of tension.
The visit was confirmed yesterday by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Mr Erdogan will arrive in Cairo next Wednesday, where he will hold talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on a range of bilateral and regional issues, including trade, energy and security, Mr Fidan said.
He also said Turkey has agreed to provide Egypt with drones, in the first known arms deal between the two countries since they restored ties in July last year, after two years of intermittent negotiations.
“Normalisation in our relations is important for Egypt to have certain technologies,” he said.
“We have an agreement to provide [Egypt] with unmanned air vehicles and other technologies.”
The process to re-establish relations received a major boost in 2022 when Mr El Sisi and Mr Erdogan met during the Fifa World Cup in Qatar. That was their first encounter since Mr El Sisi took office in 2014. Relations between the two nations became tense in 2013 when the Egyptian military, at the time led by Mr El Sisi, removed the president at the time, Mohamed Morsi, who had the support of Turkey.
The two countries withdrew their ambassadors soon afterwards, amid accusations from Cairo that Ankara was supporting extremist groups in the region and interfering in the domestic affairs of Arab states, including Syria and Iraq. Despite the political tension, however, trade between the two countries continued to grow at a steady pace, reaching almost $10 billion in 2022.
Ankara and Cairo have also found themselves at odds over their support for opposing sides in the civil war in Libya.
Egypt has also accused Turkey of attempting to interfere in Cairo’s energy plans for the Eastern Mediterranean.