Türkiye’s top diplomat returned to Egypt six months after he accompanied President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on a historic visit to Cairo. The first stopover of Hakan Fidan, who was invited by his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty, was al-Arish, a port city where Türkiye sent shiploads of humanitarian aid destined for Gaza. Fidan was welcomed by North Sinai Governor Khaled Megawer at the airport on Sunday.

Fidan’s visit aims to empower relations between the two countries and discuss preparations for a visit by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to Türkiye, which will be the first of its kind for the Egyptian leader.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made his first visit to Egypt in 12 years last February as Cairo and Ankara sought to normalize relations.

Bilateral relations dominate the agenda of Fidan’s visit, along with ensuring humanitarian aid delivery to Gaza whose only viable land crossing for aid is situated in Egypt. The visit is also overshadowed by growing regional tensions, especially between Israel and Hezbollah, something Türkiye seeks to de-escalate through diplomacy. Along with al-Arish, Fidan visited the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

Speaking at the Rafah crossing, Fidan said he was standing only a few hundred meters from a humanitarian tragedy, "a genocide." "Two million people are displaced (in Gaza) and some 40,000 women and children are martyred," he told reporters. "There is no medicine, food and water. There are only our Palestinian brothers and sisters facing hunger. I call upon the humanity to stop this massacre. If we can’t, we will be an accomplice in it. We have to step up the pressure on Israel. Western countries, particularly the United States, should break their silence or remain a partner in this genocide," he said.

Fidan noted that Rafah remained closed and humanitarian aid delivery was diverted to Kerem Shalom where only 25 trucks can pass daily.

He reiterated that Türkiye led in terms of the amount of humanitarian aid sent to Gaza since day one, Türkiye is doing everything it can for Gaza.

During Erdoğan’s visit, Türkiye and Egypt signed a joint declaration for a convention of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council led by two presidents. The first council will meet in Türkiye. Fidan and Abdellaty will discuss preparations for this crucial meeting, which will involve the signing of some 20 cooperation deals according to Turkish media.

Top diplomats will exchange views on bilateral political, economic and cultural relations and the latest developments in the region, which has been a hotbed of conflict after Israel’s brutal aggression targeting Palestinians in Gaza since last October. Fidan and Abdellaty will also discuss long-term cooperation opportunities in the fields of energy, health care, tourism and the defense industry. Ankara and Cairo are working to upgrade the bilateral trade volume, which has neared $10 billion to $15 billion. Other topics on the agenda of talks are increasing joint work in media and communications and cooperation between the universities of the two countries.

Erdoğan’s February visit capped diplomatic efforts in recent years to thaw the nations' frosty relations. They mutually appointed ambassadors last year, and earlier this year Türkiye said it would provide Egypt with armed drones. Erdoğan and el-Sissi fell out after Egypt's 2013 military coup that toppled President Mohamed Morsi. After the coup, diplomatic ties were downgraded although economic ties remained largely unharmed. Indeed, in 2022, Türkiye was the largest importer of Egyptian goods, totaling $4 billion (TL 123 billion). In 2023, Cairo allowed Turkish citizens to obtain a visa on arrival, paving the way for advanced tourism.

Normalization accelerated after Erdoğan and el-Sissi shook hands in Doha at the World Cup in 2022 and gained further pace following the deadly February 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye, Erdoğan’s reelection in May and the appointment of ambassadors to each other’s capitals in July. Since then, the two leaders met on the sidelines of the G-20 leaders summit last September and held conversations over the phone, particularly on the latest round of the Palestine-Israel conflict. Cairo and Ankara have backed opposing factions in Libya’s yet unresolved conflict, and also over maritime borders in the gas-rich Eastern Mediterranean. However, Türkiye has dismissed claims of a rivalry with Egypt in the region and reiterated willingness for more cooperation.