Egypt, Turkey seal end of decade of falling out
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (r) shakes hands with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu after the joint press conference in Cairo, March 18, 2023. AFP - KHALED DESOUKI
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The foreign ministers of Egypt and Turkey announced in Cairo a resumption of relations at ambassadorial level as soon as possible. Relations between Cairo and Ankara deteriorated sharply ten years ago. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that he was "preparing a meeting" between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to seal the end of a decade of quarrel between the two countries.
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With our correspondent in Cairo, Alexandre Buccianti
At the center of the dispute between Cairo and Ankara in 2013 was the military's removal of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamad Morsi. Recep Tayip Erdogan had denounced "a military coup".
The Turkish president had made Istanbul the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in exile, which opposed the Egyptian regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Relations even bordered on armed conflict in Libya where Cairo and Ankara supported rival factions.
Relations began to improve in 2022 and Presidents Erdogan and Sisi met in Doha on the sidelines of the World Cup.
Cairo sets two conditions for a total normalization of relations with Ankara: the neutralization of the Muslim Brotherhood and its media broadcasting from Istanbul and the amendment of an agreement on the route of economic waters between Turkey and Libya that does not take into account Egyptian waters.
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- Egypt
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- Recep Tayyip Erdogan
- Abdel Fattah al-Sisi