Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Turkey on Monday to show solidarity after the deadly earthquakes this month, marking the first minister-level trip to the country in a decade as the two regional powers seek better ties.
(Bloomberg) —
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Turkey on Monday to show solidarity after the deadly earthquakes this month, marking the first minister-level trip to the country in a decade as the two regional powers seek better ties.
“Turkey and Egypt improving their ties is to the benefit of both sides,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a joint press conference in quake-hit Adana province with Shoukry. He also said a meeting at the presidential level could be possible later on.
World Cup Handshake Marks New Breakthrough in Egypt-Turkey Feud
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi shook hands at the World Cup in November and Erdogan said he hoped for high-level talks to repair ties. Sisi also called Erdogan following the quakes, signaling a further thaw.
Relations between the two countries have been sour for years over Turkey’s support for Muslim Brotherhood, and spiraled further with the 2013 military ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi. Egypt and Turkey also have been at odds in other regional conflicts, as well as clashing over competing energy claims in the East Mediterranean.
Shoukry will also visit Mersin Port, where an aid ship from Egypt will arrive, according to an earlier statement from Turkey’s foreign ministry.
(Updates with context throughout starting in first paragraph.)
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