Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said they reached an agreement to upgrade their relations during his landmark visit over the weekend to Cairo.
"We agreed to maximize our diplomatic relations. We have evaluated the steps needed for the next process. I invited him (Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry) to Ankara. I said that I wanted to host him, especially during the month of Ramadan," Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters in remarks published by Turkish media outlets on Monday.
Çavuşoğlu and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry discussed bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues on Saturday in Cairo.
Diplomatic relations between Türkiye and Egypt have been at the level of charges d'affaires on both sides since Egypt's 2013 military coup which overthrew the late President Mohammed Morsi. Çavuşoğlu is the first Turkish foreign minister to visit Egypt in 11 years.
As to appointing ambassadors, Çavuşoğlu said it was previously planned that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would decide mutually. "We were expecting the highest level of the announcement. If the (presidents') meeting is delayed after the election (in Türkiye), we will consult again. We will decide on this soon. But we have already announced at the news conference that we have initiated this process," he maintained.
After the Feb. 6 quakes in Türkiye, Shoukry visited the quake-hit Adana and Mersin provinces, and his visit to Türkiye was the first by an Egyptian foreign minister in more than a decade. Meanwhile, al-Sisi was among the leaders who made a phone call with Erdoğan following the earthquakes, offering his condolences to the quake victims.
Çavuşoğlu said they have discussed ways to develop bilateral relations and "discussed existing matters, issues to overcome." "We exchanged views, especially on regional issues. Then we held a meeting between delegations and discussed everything. In other words, we touched on all matters from energy, shipping, transportation to our companies, and investments here," he said, adding that topics related to energy, logistics, education, and culture were also addressed.
Noting that the Egyptian side wants Turkish companies to increase investments in Egypt, the minister said the bilateral trade volume currently nears $10 billion. On liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, the Turkish minister said the balance is in Egypt's favor which Türkiye does not complain about. "We want to make a long-term LNG agreement. Thanks to our LNG terminals, we are currently exporting gas to southeast Europe and Balkan countries. Therefore, Egyptian gas can be exported to third countries via Türkiye," he said.
During the discussions, the Turkish side also proposed to establish a JETCO (Joint Economic and Trade Commission) mechanism between the two countries as the most recent meeting was held in 1996. "On the other hand, we decided to expand our cooperation, especially in renewable energy and solar energy," Çavuşoğlu added. The Turkish minister further said they have "openly and clearly" exchanged views on regional matters. Citing the bilateral, regional dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over an Ethiopian dam that could curtail Egypt's share of the Nile River's waters, Türkiye suggested it could play a mediator's role as it has good ties with both Ethiopia and Sudan, according to Çavuşoğlu.
"We discussed Libya in a little more detail. We agree we are not rivals in Libya and that we should work together for the stability of Libya. We will intensify our consultations on this issue as well," he noted. He said Türkiye's deal with Libya over maritime authority areas was not against Egypt's interests. He said Egypt was initially disturbed by Türkiye's presence in the region but they affirmed that their presence did not pose a threat to Egypt. Çavuşoğlu also stressed that Türkiye would not press upon Egypt and Israel (another country it is normalizing relations with) to cut off ties with other countries such as Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration in Cyprus, two countries at odds with Ankara but enjoy good ties with Israel and Egypt.
On ties with Libya, Çavuşoğlu said Türkiye was in touch with both sides of the political divide in Libya. "We see Libya as a whole but it does not alter the fact that we only recognize the legitimate government in Libya. The most legitimate (foreign) presence in Libya is Türkiye's military presence," he added.
On postponed quadrilateral talks between Türkiye, Syria, Russia and Iran, Çavuşoğlu said Russia, the host, offered postponement citing that they could not complete their preparations for discussions. "The Bashar Assad regime was there, they may have decided it together," Çavuşoğlu added, referring to Bashar Assad's visit to Moscow around the same time as the scheduled meeting. Çavuşoğlu said they have many issues to be discussed, but they agreed upon a roadmap that includes meetings between delegations from relevant countries on several levels before a presidential-level meeting.
In a sign of potential rapprochement between Ankara and the Bashar Assad regime, Syrian and Turkish defense ministers held landmark talks in Moscow in December, alongside their Russian counterparts, marking the highest-level encounter since the start of the Syrian war more than a decade ago. Russian Foreign Ministry sources also confirmed that the sides agreed to postpone the talks to another unspecified date.
In January, Çavuşoğlu said he could meet his Syrian counterpart in February to discuss normalization between the two neighbors. After meeting his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian last week, Çavuşoğlu said Iran wanted to join the talks between Türkiye, Syria and Russia, and Türkiye had agreed.
Türkiye has recently approved Finland's accession to NATO during a visit by the Finnish President to Ankara. Çavuşoğlu said their stance on Sweden's membership did not change yet. "I conveyed to the Swedish foreign minister that we would approve (Finland's membership) before the official announcement on Friday. We respect our ties so we did not want them to learn about it through news reports," he said.
He said he also told his Swedish counterpart Tobias Billström that it was "up to them" to get Türkiye's approval. "We sent them a message," Çavuşoğlu said, referring to Sweden's insistence for a combined approval from Türkiye, hand-in-hand with Finland. "We allow those applying a trilateral deal but we don't allow those who do not take steps to that extent," he said.
Finland and Sweden, which long adhered to military non-alignment policies, sought NATO membership as the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated. Their applications were accepted at a June NATO summit, but that summit was only a statement of intent.
The bids still needed to be ratified by all 30 alliance members' parliaments, a process that stalled once it reached Türkiye and Hungary.
Erdoğan, in January, said he was happy with the progress Finland was making and was ready to table its ratification before the Parliament. NATO had hoped to formally welcome both countries at another summit planned for July in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
