A delegation of the Turkish Patriotic Party visited Egypt on 20 and 21 May in an attempt to restart dialogue between the two countries, which have become strained since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The members of the Turkish opposition party met with the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs and Egypt’s oldest liberal party, the Wafd.

Head of the delegation and former head of Turkish naval intelligence, Sonur Polat, told Ahram Online that the purpose of the meeting was to build relations between Turkey and Egypt.

“We place particular importance on regional cooperation, and it is the one of the policies of our party, so we have paid several visits to neighbouring countries in the Middle East,” Polat said.

“Our leader paid a visit to Syria and he himself spoke with President Al-Assad and had a very constructive, informative talk.”

Polat said another party delegation had visited Iran and met with former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Relations between Turkey and Egypt have been strained since the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been an outspoken critic of the ouster and of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's government, while Egyptian officials have accused Ankara of interference in Egyptian affairs.

Ahmed Ezz El-Arab, the vice chairman of the Wafd party, told Ahram Online that the visit by the Patriotic Party will go a long way in improving relations between the two countries.

“It was a success. There is so much heritage and history between both countries. The thing is that Erdogan can’t succeed in the long run. He is trying to be the “Khalifa” of the region. But the people won’t accept it.

“He [Erdogan] is part of an imperial project to divide the region,” El-Arab added.

El-Arab also said that the visit by the Patriotic Party would encourage other Turkish opposition parties to visit Egypt and further improve relations.

“Other opposition parties will come. This visit will encourage them a lot.”

Polat said that because government-to-government relations between both countries are almost non-existent currently, it is important to look past sectarian issues.

“We are for the territorial integrity of countries and look past sectarian and religious issues.”

When asked if it was provocative to visit President Al-Assad, Polat said that the views of the Turkish people are different to those of Erdogan's government.

“President Al-Assad is going to play a big component in the future of that country. There is a historical context to this visit. People are meeting opposition parties from Syria but no one is talking to Al-Assad who is still president.”

Asked about the stance of the Patriotic Party on the death sentence recently issued to Mohamed Morsi, which Erdogan denounced as a “return to Ancient Egypt”, Polat said that he respects the independence of Egypt’s judiciary and to comment further would be interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign country.