TALKS BETWEEN EGYPT AND TURKEY HELP TO SOOTHE TIES BUT HURDLES REMAIN
▶ Cairo wants Turkish authorities to hand over Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood figures living in exile
Direct and back-channel talks between Egypt and Turkey over the past few months indicated a rapprochement, and diplomatic sources told The National that the discussions were “the most serious” yet.
There has been no love lost between the countries’ presidents, Abdel Fattah El Sisi of Egypt and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
Mr Erdogan has long considered Mr El Sisi’s rule to be illegitimate because he took power about a year after Ankara ally and Muslim Brotherhood figure Mohammed Morsi was ousted.
Egypt accused Turkey of unwarranted hostility and cut back intelligence, diplomatic and trade relations since 2014.
Within months of Morsi’s removal from power in July 2013, Egypt and Turkey expelled each other’s ambassadors.
Many figures from the Muslim Brotherhood, a group viewed sympathetically by the Turkish government but outlawed in Egypt, fled to Turkey. That led to accusations from Cairo that Ankara interfered in Egypt’s domestic affairs.
Perhaps more important to the deteriorating relationship were differences over events in the Mediterranean and Libya.
Ankara and Cairo supported opposing sides in Libya’s civil war. In the Mediterranean, Egypt sided with Greece and Cyprus in a row with Turkey over gas exploration.
Turkey signed security and maritime agreements with the Government of National Accord in Libya in late 2019, deepening the feud with Egypt.
But after direct talks started in Washington last August, sources told The National there had been seriousness and progress in the rapprochement between Egypt and Turkey in a way that has not been seen in the previous two years.
With the Covid-19 pandemic hitting both countries hard, the Turkish economy under strain, tensions in the Gulf easing and Ankara realising that Mr El Sisi is here to stay, these talks have progressed.
Sources said that Turkish rhetoric had been toned down from the past two years, when Mr Erdogan would override his advisers and spoil efforts to improve relations by criticising Egypt in speeches.
Intelligence and defence co-operation between the countries picked up as well, the sources said.
Reports last month suggested that Turkey ordered Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated media in the country to stop broadcasting negative coverage of Mr El Sisi’s government. The official rhetoric also improved.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said there had been diplomatic talks between the countries and Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said the nations shared history and traditions.
Mr Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said “a new chapter can be opened” in relations between the two countries.
There had previously been indications that Mr El Sisi’s government did not consider its differences with Ankara to be insurmountable.
A maritime deal with Greece was signed in August last year and took account of Turkish claims over the limited sovereignty of Greek islands that lie a few kilometres off the Anatolian coast.
It is energy co-operation in the Eastern Mediterranean, in particular, that prompted Ankara to pursue rapprochement, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research programme at the Washington Institute.
“Ankara is watching how its rivals Greece, Israel and Egypt are coming together, establishing natural gas-related initiatives, while it’s left out,” he told The National.
By seeking rapprochement with Egypt and Israel, an isolated Mr Erdogan “is trying to corner Turkey’s oldest adversary in the Eastern Mediterranean, which is Greece”, Mr Cagaptay said.
But despite the policy on media affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, he said the efforts to improve ties between Egypt and Turkey were still in the early stages.
“We still need more confidence-building measures before we talk about possible normalisation of ties,” Mr Cagaptay said.
Cairo called for Ankara to hand over Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood figures living in exile in Turkey. One of them is Yehia Moussa, indicted by Cairo in 2019 in the assassination of Egypt’s prosecutor general, Hisham Barakat.
Another demand from Egypt entails a change in Mr Erdogan’s rhetoric and recognition of Mr El Sisi’s government. Among the ideas suggested include a visit by Mr Erdogan to Cairo that would symbolically counter his anti-Sisi remarks over the past few years.
Mr Cagaptay said such a step would first require the Turkish president to alter his rhetoric in general.
“The Muslim Brotherhood rhetoric is [Mr Erdogan’s] bread and butter, so there will be an adjustment beforehand,” Mr Cagaptay said.
Mithat Rende, a former Turkish ambassador, said Cairo demanded action.
“The Turks need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk, to show, for example, that they will keep the Muslim Brotherhood at arm’s length, especially those still operating in Istanbul,” he said.
“Turkey has expressed a desire for a new deal in the Mediterranean, a delimitation agreement and an exclusive economic zone that would offer Egypt extra territory the size of Qatar.”
Veysel Kurt, a researcher at the pro-government Seta think tank in Turkey, said the “quest for normalisation has led to an optimistic atmosphere”.