Egypt and Turkey will start talks in Cairo today, Wednesday, during which they will try to repair the tense relations between them, after a dispute that began 8 years ago, and which led each of them to support a different faction in the ongoing war in Libya, and put them on opposite sides in a dispute over sovereignty and rights in the eastern Mediterranean waters.

According to a Reuters news agency report, relations between the two regional powers have been strained since the Egyptian army in 2013 ousted the democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood and is close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Each country expelled the other's ambassador, and Erdogan called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi a "tyrant."

Turkey is looking to repair relations as part of an effort to build bridges with the Arab countries allied with the United States, after years of political competition and military interventions that have shown Turkey's influence, but have severely affected its alliances with the Arab world.

Turkish officials said that the two countries' deputy foreign ministers will chair the consultations that will take place today and tomorrow, in the first talks at this level since 2013. A high-ranking Turkish official said that the talks would include cooperation in the fields of trade and energy, as well as jurisdiction in maritime issues in the eastern Mediterranean.

Steps towards normalization

A joint statement stated that "these exploratory consultations will focus on the necessary steps that may lead to the normalization of relations between the two countries at the bilateral and regional levels."

The value of trade exchanges between the two countries is approaching $ 5 billion annually, despite the political dispute.

A Turkish official said, "Turkey and Egypt are the two powerful countries in the region, and there are many areas in which they can work and cooperate."

On the other hand, two Egyptian security sources said that Egyptian officials would listen to Turkish proposals to resume relations, but that they would consult with the Egyptian leadership before agreeing on anything.

The foreign ministers of the two countries made a phone call, and Ankara says the intelligence chiefs were also in contact.

Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan's spokesman, said last week that the rapprochement could help end the ongoing war in Libya, as Turkish forces supported the government stationed in Tripoli to counter an attack by forces based in the east of the country and received support from Egypt and Russia.

Relations with the Muslim Brotherhood

Egypt's response to the Turkish overtures has so far been cautious, and what angered it was Turkey's provision of safe havens for opposition Egyptian leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been banned in Egypt since Sisi took power.

Erdogan - who belongs to a party with Islamic roots - had supported Arab parties and politicians linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, which put him at odds not only with Egypt but also with Arab Gulf powers such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

In a gesture to Egypt two months ago, Turkey asked Egyptian TV channels operating on its soil to reduce their criticism of the Sisi government.

The Turkish official said that Ankara does not want these channels to cause problems, adding that members of the Muslim Brotherhood residing in Turkey were not asked to leave, but that it is "not desirable, of course, to harm the ongoing positive developments."

The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ashraf Abdel Ghaffar, said that the Egyptian opposition groups in Turkey - which include liberals as well as Islamists - have been informed that Turkey's efforts to improve relations will not come at its expense, adding, "We heard from the Turkish authorities that they will not ask anyone to leave the country."

Turkey also says that the two countries agreed in principle not to oppose each other in international forums, including NATO, as Turkey's membership in it allowed it to use the right of veto against Egypt's participation in some of the alliance's partnerships.