Turkish president to visit Egypt on Wednesday

Ahram Online , Monday 12 Feb 2024

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to visit Egypt Wednesday following his participation in the World Government Summit in Dubai on Monday and Tuesday, according to a statement by Türkiye’s Communications Directorate.

Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. AFP

 

Erdogan will attend the summit as the guest of honour and hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the participating countries, especially UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to the directorate statement reported by Türkiye’s English-language state broadcaster TRT World.

During Erdogan’s visit to Cairo, steps to be taken to develop relations between Türkiye and Egypt and revitalise high-level cooperation mechanisms will be discussed, according to TRT World.

The agenda of the meetings is to exchange views on current global and regional issues, especially the Israeli attacks on Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories, added the statement.

Erdogan’s visit to Egypt – the first since 2012 – comes amid intensified Egyptian and Qatari efforts to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and help achieve a new ceasefire and detainees swap deal.

CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday to talk with Egyptian officials in a bid to push for a new Gaza ceasefire deal, according to an Axios report.

The Turkish president has maintained his position on the Palestinian group Hamas, refusing to classify it as a terrorist organization while condemning as genocide Israeli operations in Gaza.

Israel has killed over 28,000 Palestinians in its four-month-long war on the Strip and declared intentions for a ground offensive in the border town of Rafah despite mounting warnings – from several other countries and international parties – including its close ally US.

Egypt, Turkey Relations 

Both nations move forward normalizing ties after a decade of rapture and the visit is the first since Ankara and Cairo upgraded relations, reinstating ambassadors last summer.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries strained after the 2013 ouster of Egypt’s late Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsy.

In July 2023, Egypt and Turkey announced upgrading their diplomatic relations to the ambassadorial level.

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