The Turkish envoy in Egypt said relations between his country and Egypt are back to normal and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will likely probably meet Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi "within the next three or six months."
Diplomatic relations between Türkiye and Egypt have been maintained at the level of charge d'affaires on both sides since Egypt's 2013 military coup, which overthrew the late President Mohammed Morsi.
Egypt's history tangled with Ottoman rule in Türkiye kept the two countries located on opposite sides of the Mediterranean Sea close for centuries. Relations renewed in 1925 when the fledgling Republic of Türkiye established diplomatic ties with Cairo, but it took over two decades before Türkiye appointed an ambassador to Egypt.
Relations have mainly been stable except for short periods of suspension in the 1960s, but they reached new heights when Morsi was elected president in 2012. After Morsi was toppled, Türkiye maintained contact with Cairo before downgrading diplomatic relations in 2013, while economic ties remained largely unharmed.
El-Sissi was among the leaders who called Erdoğan after the Feb. 6 earthquakes in Türkiye’s south dubbed the "disaster of the century" and Cairo sent humanitarian aid to the country after the disaster. Egypt's foreign minister also made a visit for the delivery of assistance in the aftermath of the earthquakes and a reciprocal visit to Egypt was made soon after by the Turkish foreign minister.
Ambassador Salih Mutlu Şen, who currently serves as Türkiye’s charge d'affaires in Cairo, told Saudi TV earlier this week that the two countries have taken important steps for normalization and re-established trust between them. "Two brotherly countries and peoples desire cooperation in all fields. There were some obstacles (to normalization) but we overcame them. We are now talking about formal cooperation opportunities for the interest of people of both countries in economy, tourism, culture and other fields," he said, noting progress in the state of affairs, "based on respect and trust."
"President el-Sissi’s phone call congratulating President Erdoğan after the election was a very amicable step. It was the confirmation of strong political will to advance the relations," he said. Şen predicted leaders would meet in Ankara or Cairo by the end of 2023.
The Turkish official also dismissed claims of rivalry between Türkiye and Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea and dispute over maritime borders. "We are open to cooperation and more work will be done in the future to ensure this. Türkiye and Egypt do not have any dispute at the core of the issue," he said.
Şen highlighted that in the past decade (when the diplomatic ties deteriorated), the two countries paid attention to keeping economic ties unaffected by the political situation but it was only possible to advance economic cooperation further by fully restoring diplomatic relations. "Our bilateral trade volume reached $9.7 billion in 2002 and with more cooperation, it is safe to say that it will be raised to $20 billion in the medium term. It is a fact that Türkiye is the biggest export market for Egypt and Türkiye is the number one customer of Egyptian gas," he said.
The charge d'affaires said improved relations will also impact the tourism sector. He said they expected the number of Turkish tourists visiting Egypt would triple in the medium term and noted that many Egyptian tourists also prefer Türkiye for vacation. He stressed that the rise in the number of Turkish tourists will be linked to the facilitation of visa procedures for them by Cairo.
Şen stated that Turkish companies had investments worth about $2.5 billion in Egypt and they were the biggest textile exporters in Egypt.
"Economic ties are always maintained for the interests of the peoples of Egypt and Türkiye. We have seen disruptions in roll-on/roll-off ship transportation between (Türkiye’s) Mersin and (Egypt’s) Alexandria but it did not stem from diplomatic issues but rather, something about logistics problems. We desire to activate this cargo service again," he said.