Turkey, Egypt talks planned next month to restore ties

A Turkish delegation is to visit Egypt early next month to mend strained relations, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said today.

“Egypt has invited a delegation from Turkey. The delegation will go to Egypt at the beginning of May,” he said during a live interview on NTV television. “The talks will be held at the level of deputy foreign ministers.”

He added that “a new era is beginning” following his telephone call with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, on Saturday.

“Egypt is an important country for the Muslim world, Africa, Palestine and everyone. The stability and prosperity of Egypt are important for everyone,” Cavusoglu added.

Last month Turkey announced that it had resumed diplomatic contacts with Cairo after years of strained relations following the 2013 coup which overthrew former-late President Mohamed Morsi, who was a Muslim Brotherhood leader and had the support of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ankara and Cairo have also clashed over maritime demarcation disputes in the Mediterranean and Turkey’s involvement in Libya.

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It was also reported last month that Turkey had demanded that Istanbul-based Egyptian opposition TV channels should tone down criticism of coup leader turned President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

However until recently, there have been less public statements from Cairo confirming any changes in relations. An Egyptian official from the Foreign Ministry was also quoted last month as saying “there is no such thing of resuming diplomatic contacts”. Earlier this week, Shoukry said that Egypt was “eager” to start talks on rebuilding ties with Turkey in a way that serves both countries.

Turkey’s relations with Saudi Arabia have also warmed in recent months and yesterday the Saudi Press Agency reported that King Salman Bin Abdulaziz had received a phone call from Erdogan who had extended his greetings to the king for the month of Ramadan.

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