Sisi (right) receiving Erdogan in Cairo (French)

Turkish writer Iray Güçlür says that the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Egypt on February 14 had meanings that go beyond normalizing relations between the two countries and raising them to the required level to establishing a new geopolitical axis.

He explained - in a report in the Turkish newspaper Aksam - that the new axis includes Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and has great importance for the future of the Middle East, as it involves close cooperation and broad solidarity.

Confronting Western imperial powers

Guchelor pointed out that the main reason behind this solidarity is to confront the desire of the imperialist powers, led by the United States and Europe, to divide the Middle East into smaller parts and weaken it, adding that the Arab countries realized this well and realized that their turn had come.

He said that Turkish defense exports to Saudi Arabia for the year 2023 amounted to $5.5 billion, and that this is just the beginning, and that more will come. For example, Saudi Arabia will order from Turkey a large number of defense products, most notably the Altay tank.

He added that later, the developed relations with the UAE opened the way for cooperation between the two countries in many fields, most notably the defense industries. The UAE was the second largest country to which Turkey exports weapons after Qatar in the period from 2018 to 2022.

Turkish President Erdogan (right) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the presidential palace in Ankara June 22, 2023 (Reuters)

A new formation for the region

Guchelor continued, saying that the dialogue that was established with Egypt after 12 years of estrangement paved the way for moving the geopolitical formation in the region to greater dimensions. In addition to setting the goal of increasing the volume of trade with Egypt to $15 billion during this visit, discussions will continue about providing many of the weapons systems that Egypt has requested from Turkey, such as Saudi Arabia.

As is clear, Goçlür says, defense industries and defense systems are a very important tool that Turkey can use in shaping the geopolitics of the region. Through this, politics can proceed peacefully and against imperialism at the same time.

However, the fact that Egypt and Turkey are also maritime neighbors opens the way for developing their relations to other dimensions. In this context, it is possible in the near future to conclude an agreement to demarcate the maritime borders between Turkey and Egypt, as they are the two largest countries with a continental shelf.

Likewise, Egypt and Turkey are planned to conduct joint oil and gas exploration operations in energy fields located within the Egyptian continental shelf.

Stop Israel's brutality

The writer pointed out that joint action with the countries on the new geopolitical axis, especially with Egypt, gained greater strength to stop Israel’s brutality in Gaza, and through Turkish support for Egypt, Tel Aviv’s pressure on Cairo reduced.

The report concluded by saying: "This is how Israel's inhumane policies of annexing Gaza and eliminating the Palestinian people have effectively been put to an end. We will see the impact of this very soon."

Source: Turkish press