CAIRO (AP) – Turkiye’s chief diplomat was in Cairo yesterday for talks with Egyptian officials as the regional powers seek to mend their frayed ties after years of tensions.
Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu landed in the Egyptian capital yesterday. He was the highest ranking Turkish official to visit the Arab World’s most populous nation in over a decade.
Egypt and Turkiye have been at loggerheads since the Egyptian military’s 2013 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi amid protest against his divisive one year of rule. Morsi hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood group.
Cavusoglu met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry for talks on “various aspects” of bilateral relations, said a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry Ahmed Abu Zaid yesterday.
He said they also discussed regional and international issues of mutual interest, an apparent reference to the conflict in Libya and tensions related to gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Abu Zaid said on Friday that the meetings are aimed at launching a “deep dialogue” to reach a “common understanding to achieve both countries’ interests”.
Egypt and Turkiye back opposing sides in Libya’s conflict, which nearly led to a direct confrontation between the two United States (US) allies in 2020 at the height of an attack on the Libyan capital by east-based commander Khalifa Hifter.
Former Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was the last highest-ranking official to visit Cairo in 2012 when he attended a Syrian opposition conference held by the Arab League.
Turkiye in recent years abandoned its critical approach to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s government, as it tried to repair relations.
In November, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and el-Sissi were photographed shaking hands during the World Cup in Qatar.
And last month, Shoukry visited quake-hit Turkiye and Syria to show solidarity with the two nations.
