'No one can predict' what will happen in Kurdistan: Egypt's foreign minister
Ahram Online, , Friday 6 Oct 2017


“No one can predict” what will happen in Kurdistan, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said, describing the current situation in the Middle East as "fluid" in a lengthy interview with Al-Ahram newspaper published on Friday.

Egypt expressed its deep concern about the Kurdistan independence referendum which was held in Iraq last month.

Asked about the situation in Libya, Shoukry said that Egypt did not support a political power or group in the war-torn country at the expense of others groups or powers.

"Egypt is communicating with all Libyans from the west and the east, and this communication enforces the Egyptian ability to create a vision for reconciliation that can be implemented by the UN special envoy,” he said.

Cairo has hosted in a series of talks between Libyan political factions in recent months, with the aim of reaching a reconciliation.

Shoukry said it was “too early” to say there is a final solution for what is happening in Syria.

"It has been complicated in Syria for the past seven years but a development happened recently that goes back to the pressures on Qatar to stop supporting terrorist groups that were working in Syria," he said, adding that the efforts of Russia and the international coalition against terrorism managed to change the equation in the war-torn country.

"Yet it is still early to say it is over as there are still terrorist organisations, foreign intervention like Iran, as well as Russian, American and Western presence on Syrian land," he said.

According to Shoukry, Egypt believes that a military solution is not an answer in Syria, but at the same time terrorism must be eradicated.

Egypt also believes that the Syrian opposition should be united in political negotiations sponsored by the UN, to create a road map for the political future in Syria.

Regarding Egyptian-US relations in the time of President Donald Trump, especially after the reduction in US aid to Egypt in August, Shoukry, said that bilateral relations were strategic and went back for four decades.

"There were times that our vision did not meet with the US's vision but that did not affect at any time our strategic bilateral relations," he said.



https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/278366.aspx