Expect a visit by the Egyptian Foreign Minister to Ankara this week
Yesterday, Turkey announced new steps in the path of normalization with both Syria and Egypt, confirming its intention to improve relations with these two countries after years of tension and estrangement.
The Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said that a quadripartite meeting would bring him together with his Russian, Iranian and Syrian counterparts, which may be held in Moscow, in early May, pointing out that this meeting will pave the way for the meeting of the leaders of the four countries, within the framework of the path of normalizing relations between Ankara and Damascus. .
“We believe that the four-way meeting of foreign ministers on Syria will take place in early May… the road map was prepared in advance,” Cavusoglu said, in a televised interview on Monday, explaining that this issue was discussed with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who visited Ankara on Thursday and Friday. .
The Turkish minister also said that Ankara “will not achieve any political gains” from the meeting between Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad, nor from any meeting at the ministerial level. In an apparent reference to the Syrian side’s belief that Ankara is rushing to hold these meetings before the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled in Turkey, next May 14, to give impetus to President Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party in those elections.
On the line of normalization with Cairo, the Turkish Foreign Minister announced that his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, will visit Ankara this week, pointing to the possibility of announcing during the visit the exchange of appointment of ambassadors between the two countries. He said that his recent visit to Cairo was “very positive, and now is the time to take concrete steps gradually.” Cavusoglu visited Cairo last month after 10 years of severing diplomatic relations.
The four-way meeting for normalization between Damascus and Ankara will be held in Moscow next month
