Reference News Network reported on March 3 According to Al Jazeera's website on March 19, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukeri and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference today that Turkey will upgrade diplomatic relations with Egypt to the ambassadorial level "as soon as possible."
According to reports, two intertwined issues in Egyptian-Turkish relations remain unresolved.
Al Jazeera senior correspondent Resur Serdar noted that Turkey and Egypt are expected to restore relations, but relations at the diplomatic level remain frosty. The antagonistic positions of the two countries on Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean are the main sticking points.
"Turkey and Egypt support different factions in Libya," Serdar said. Turkey supports the internationally recognized (Libyan) government in Tripoli, while Egypt supports Benghazi, Khalifa Haftar and their army. ”
Serdar also said: "In 2019, the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum was established... But Turkey was deliberately excluded. In response, Turkey signed a maritime agreement with the government in Tripoli. ”
According to Reuters on March 3, Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference: "I am glad that we are taking concrete steps to normalize relations with Egypt... We will do our best to avoid breaking ties again in the future. ”
Turkey's top diplomat said on Saturday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi would meet, marking the end of a 3-year estrangement period between the two countries, according to Agence France-Presse on March 18.
Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said during a visit to Cairo that Ankara hoped to "restore diplomatic relations between the two countries at the highest level." As he said this, Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukeri was by his side.
Cavusoglu's visit to Egypt comes after Shukeri visited Turkey last month to show solidarity following a devastating earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people in Turkey and neighboring Syria.
In 2013, Turkey's ally, Islamist and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, was ousted and relations between the two countries ran into trouble. At the time, Erdogan said he would "never" talk to someone like Sisi.
But last November, Sisi shook hands with Erdogan in Qatar, which Egypt's presidential palace praised as a new beginning in relations between the two countries. The two leaders also spoke by phone after the February 11 earthquake.
Cavusoglu said on Saturday that Erdogan's meeting with Sisi would take place "after Turkish elections." The Turkish elections include a presidential election scheduled for 5 May.
Despite the lukewarm foreign exchanges between the two countries, business has never stopped: Turkey was the largest importer of Egyptian products in 2022, totaling $40 billion.
But divisions remain, with many Arab journalists in Turkey critical of their own government, including some Egyptian media personnel with close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Cairo declared an illegal organization.
Cairo and Ankara also have differences over Libya. Turkey has military advisers in Libya against the forces of Egyptian ally Khalifa Haftar.
(Source: Reference News Network)