Egypt and Turkey raise level of relations to ambassadorial exchange: What it means for the region

Ambassador Rakha Ahmed, a member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs and a member of the Egyptian Association of the United Nations, may disagree with the proposal to form alliances, but he says that it is not necessary for us to “go in the completely opposite direction from the situation of disagreements to alliances, as the return of relations between two major poles in the region undoubtedly contributes to Maximizing the common interests between them, and perhaps contributing to containing the crises that have lasted for more than 12 years.

Ahmed adds that “mutual respect and respect for the sovereignty of states leads to containing the differences, and we cannot say that they will end 100 percent, but they can be contained because the common interests are much greater than the differences, as evidenced by the continuation of trade and economic relations between the two countries.”

The file of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially those of them who traveled to Turkey to escape judicial rulings or the grip of security, was the most difficult file in the Turkish-Egyptian relations. The Muslim Brotherhood considers Turkish President Erdogan as their supporter, and Turkey provided them with a platform from which television channels opposed to the Egyptian regime were launched, which increased the political complications between the two countries.

This file has not been fully resolved, but is it still a stumbling block in the way of Turkish-Egyptian relations?

Samir Salha, a professor of international relations at Istanbul University, does not agree with the opinion that the Brotherhood file is still a fundamental disagreement in the course of relations between the two countries, and considers that “this file was the center of gravity in the Turkish-Egyptian disputes, but it has declined significantly after the Turkish steps and Egyptian understanding.” without being completely resolved.

Two full years of negotiations began with sending a Turkish delegation to Egypt, followed by an Egyptian delegation’s visit to Turkey, leading to the handshake between the Egyptian and Turkish presidents in Qatar while they were attending the opening of the 2022 World Cup.

It is not a surprise to anyone that relations between the two countries return, and it is not a hasty decision, as Ambassador Rakha Ahmed believes, who justifies this by saying that “since the fall of last year, a breakthrough began in the Middle East and the entire Arab region.” He believes that the countries of the region have found that the United States is preoccupied with the Ukrainian war, and is completely far from the problems of the region, which led to the opening of new paths between the countries of the region, whether between the Arab countries and Iran on the one hand, and the Arab countries and Turkey on the other hand.

Turkish writer Samir Salha adds, “We have to take into account the political, geographical, economic, and military weight of the two countries in the region. There is a Turkish and Egyptian rise in dealing with many sensitive files, which necessitates coordination between the two countries to pave the way for resolving the crisis-ridden files in the region.”

Salha added, “I think that this pragmatic new Turkish-Egyptian reading reflects the existing desire to accelerate reconciliation and normalization processes between them.”

During the last ten years, the region witnessed a major Western escalation against Iran, which triggered major disputes and opened complex files.

Ambassador Rakha says, “Three successive American administrations did not find a way to resolve the Arab crises, because there was crisis management without resolving them, which led to postponing these crises to the future, and thus to more complexity.”

He adds that the United States “escalated exaggeratedly against Iran, which increased the suffering of the region. This led to the entry of new countries into the political line, such as China, which sponsored reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran.”

Beijing participated strongly in a Chinese-Gulf Arab conference in Riyadh, which is why the Chinese political role emerged, which detracts from the American role, according to Rakha.

The Libyan crisis is one of the political tracks that may lead to resolving the contentious files between the two countries.

Salha affirms that the Turkish-Egyptian contribution to advancing the course of the Libyan crisis towards a solution will not be achieved without the involvement of the Libyan neighboring countries and the active countries in this file. Like the Emirates, but it seems that “recent times have proven the need to get out of this crisis as quickly as possible.”

Salha adds that contacts were taking place away from the limelight to persuade the local players in the Libyan file to open up to the two countries, which was practically translated through the visits that took place from western and eastern Libya to Cairo.

The coming days will witness developments that may indicate a reshaping of the region. On the horizon, there are developments in Egyptian-Iranian relations, and perhaps Syrian-Egyptian relations as well, with the return of Egyptian-Turkish relations.

Some believe that the Ukrainian crisis, which loomed over the whole world, was also one of the motives that accelerated the search by the countries of the region – including Egypt and Turkey – for political paths that would also be useful in resolving the worsening economic crises that are now haunting some countries in the region.