Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday held the first talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, in many years on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi and announced the beginning of a new era in relations between the two nations, the Turkish presidency said.
“Erdogan announced the beginning of a new phase of relations between the countries after the appointment of the ambassadors, expressing hope that relations would reach the proper level in a short period of time,” the Turkish presidency said in a statement seen by Sputnik.
During the talks, the two leaders discussed bilateral ties and trade expansion, as well as a number of other issues, with the Turkish president stressing the importance of cooperation in the fields of nuclear energy, liquefied gas supplies, culture and education, the statement read.
Relations between Turkiye and Egypt have been gradually improving recently. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited the quake-hit zone in Turkiye in late February, while El-Sisi expressed his condolences to Erdogan over the tragedy. After that, then-Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu traveled to Cairo, which was the first visit by a high-ranking Turkish official in 10 years. In April, Shoukry went to Turkiye one more time.
As a result of the contacts, Erdogan and El-Sisi agreed in May to upgrade diplomatic ties to the level of ambassadors to restore normal relations between the two nations. In early July, Turkiye and Egypt appointed ambassadors for the first time in a decade.
Turkish-Egyptian relations deteriorated in July 2013 after the overthrow of then-Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and the subsequent internal bloody clashes. Erdogan strongly condemned the actions of the Egyptian military against supporters of the ousted leader then. In August 2013, Ankara and Cairo withdrew their ambassadors for consultations, after which Egypt declared the Turkish ambassador persona non grata, prompting Turkiye to respond in a tit-for-tat.
Source: Sputnik