Turkey's top diplomat vows to mend ties with Egypt

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday during talks with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry that Ankara would work to "normalize" relations with Cairo.

Cavusoglu's visit marks the first time in a decade Turkey and Egypt's top diplomats have held talks in Cairo.

Turkey's foreign minister said that Ankara would upgrade its diplomatic relations with Egypt to ambassador level "as soon as possible."

"I'm very glad that we are taking concrete steps for normalizing relations with Egypt... We will do our best not to rupture our ties again in future," Cavusoglu said.

"We will come to talks (on restoring ambassadors) at the appropriate time, depending on the positive results it brings," Shoukry said.

He said the talks had been "honest, deep and transparent".

Shoukry also visited Turkey last month following a deadly earthquake that killed over 50,000 people.

A decade of strained ties

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew predecessor Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in a 2013 military coup. Mursi was an ally of Ankara and his ouster lead to years of strained relations between Egypt and Turkey.

Mursi died in prison in 2019. Other senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood remain in prison in Egypt or have left the country.

Turkey and Egypt also backed opposing factions in the conflict in Libya.

Consultations between senior foreign ministry officials in Ankara and Cairo began in 2021 as Turkey worked to ease tensions with a number of countries in the region.

Last month, Egypt's government said that Turkish companies had committed to $500 million (€465 million) in new investments in Egypt.

sdi/jcg (Reuters, AP)