Erdogan calls for repairing ties with Egypt

Turkey is working to repair its ties with Egypt and some Gulf States and seeks cooperation on a “win-win basis”, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

“Our desire is to use these opportunities for cooperation at the maximum level and improve our ties on a win-win basis … The same situation is valid for all Gulf countries too,” Reuters reported Erdogan telling state broadcaster TRT Haber.

He explained: “We have serious potential for cooperation with Egypt in a wide spectrum of areas from the eastern Mediterranean to Libya,” adding that he “loved” the Egyptian people. “Therefore, we are determined to restart this process.”

Turkish ties with Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been strained over several issues, including Saudi and Egyptian hostility towards the Muslim Brotherhood, which was ousted in a military coup after winning Egypt’s first democratic elections, supporting chaos and militias in Libyan against the UN-backed government, the issue of eastern Mediterranean energy sources and the Saudi murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

As part of efforts to reform relations, a Turkish delegation held talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo last month in the first direct contact between the two sides since the 2013 coup.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held talks in May with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal Bin Farhan and both said that the two countries would maintain dialogue.

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