Turkey will fully restore its diplomatic relations with Egypt, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said today, as quoted by the Turkish media.
Cavusoglu arrived today on an official visit to Egypt – the first in 11 years. He met in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukri, after which the two gave a joint press conference.
I am glad that we are taking concrete steps to normalize relations with Egypt. We will do our best not to sever our ties again in the future. We will revive the cooperation mechanisms between the two countries, said the Turkish foreign minister, quoted by the state TV TRT-Haber.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, in turn, said his talks with his Turkish counterpart on Saturday were “honest, thorough and transparent” as the two countries seek to restore full diplomatic relations. He said that he and Çavuşoğlu discussed the issue of restoring diplomatic relations at the level of ambassadors.
We will start talks on the matter at the appropriate time, Shukri pointed out.
Çavuşoğlu also added that he and the Egyptian foreign minister emphasized the need to improve cooperation in the field of energy, for which concrete steps must be taken. He pointed out that both countries are willing to strengthen cooperation in the field of trade.
We want to revive our consultations on both political and regional issues, Cavusoglu said.
He added that there are plans to resume cooperation in the military sphere as well.
Our Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff of the Turkish Army have invited Egypt to three military exercises to be held in Turkey. We need to intensify our joint work in these areas, the foreign minister of Turkey emphasized.
There are steps we need to take in every area – from the economy to energy, from politics to education. The most important thing here is the strong political will and determination on both sides. Once that happens, the steps will follow one after the other, Cavusoglu said.
Relations between Turkey and Egypt deteriorated after Egypt’s current president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, overthrew the country’s then-president, Mohamed Morsi, in a coup in 2013.
Since 2021, Ankara and Cairo have been exchanging positive signals in an attempt to restore their relationship.
