Türkiye may appoint an ambassador to Egypt in the upcoming months, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Monday.

Speaking to a group of reporters in Ankara, the top diplomat said: "Political consultations between deputy ministers could be rescheduled soon. An ambassador might be appointed in the coming months."

Asked about the possibility of a process similar to Egypt with Syria, Çavuşoğlu stressed that Türkiye's main goal is to end the civil war in Syria.

"We are continuing the process with the (Syrian) opposition. The opposition is also participating in the Astana talks along with the Assad regime," he said, adding that Türkiye aims to also "revive the political process, including the constitutional negotiations."

"This is part of the engagement. Progress must be made by the Constitutional Committee. But there is no progress there," he added.

After years of tension, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shook hands with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Qatar this month in what was described by the Egyptian Presidency as a new start in bilateral relations.

The handshake and the brief meeting opened the door to a flurry of back-door diplomacy between intelligence officials, two sources told Reuters.

Intelligence delegations from the two countries met in Egypt over the weekend, said a regional source with knowledge of the matter. The second source, a senior Turkish official, said "significant" discussions had begun between them, and Türkiye and Egypt are set to begin talks on military, political and commercial issues, including energy projects.

Just as relations between Türkiye and Egypt take shape, ties with Syria can follow the same path in the next period, Erdoğan said Sunday.

"There is no room for hard feelings in politics," Erdoğan said at an event in the central Konya province.

Referring to his recent meeting with his Egyptian counterpart in Qatar, Erdoğan said el-Sissi is "very happy" with this meeting and "we also conveyed the same wish."

Also, he said that "hopefully" the normalization process with Egypt will continue at the ministerial level.

"Recently, we experienced problems over a nine-year period. We took this step that evening through the support of Qatar's emir. After overcoming that difficulty, we had a narrow-scoped meeting with el-Sissi for half an hour or 45 minutes," Erdoğan said.

Detailing the two leaders' meeting in Qatar, Erdoğan said: "Now let our lower-level ministers start the talks, and then let us expand and develop our talks. All we care about is removing this resentment between you (Egypt) and Türkiye. There should not be such a problem between Türkiye and Egypt in the Mediterranean."

"Now that the process has begun, a process will continue with our ministers. And then will come together in the Mediterranean because the connections between the Egyptian people and Türkiye are very different, we should not lose this power to others," he said.

Erdoğan said there are those who wanted to use Türkiye's discontent with the Gulf countries to their benefit, adding: "When these issues are eliminated, the plans will collapse."

"Our relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are in a very good position. They will be even better," he said, adding: "This is obviously disturbing some circles."

Last week, Erdoğan shook hands and chatted with el-Sissi as the two met in the Qatari capital on the sidelines of the opening of the 2022 World Cup.

Türkiye aims to boost a normalization process with Egypt that started with ministers to a higher level with high-level talks, Erdoğan said following the brief meeting.

Egypt and Türkiye have not deployed ambassadors since 2013 when relations worsened following the ousting of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi by military chief el-Sissi, now the country’s president. Türkiye-Egypt ties have continued at the level of charge d'affairs since 2013. During this period, brief meetings were held between the foreign ministers of the two countries on various occasions. Meanwhile, the Turkish Embassy in Cairo, the consulate in Alexandria, the Egyptian Embassy in Ankara, and the Consulate in Istanbul have continued their usual activities.

The normalization process between Türkiye and Egypt continues at a gradual pace. The two countries started consultations between senior Foreign Ministry officials last year amid a push by Türkiye to ease tensions with regional powers including Egypt, the UAE, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Erdoğan said in July there was no reason high-level talks should not take place.

Also, the president previously said he could meet with Assad when the right time comes, reinforcing tentative recent steps to restore ties between the two sides.

Any normalization between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decadelong Syrian war. Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining Syrian moderate opposition in their last major territorial foothold in the northwest after Assad defeated the opposition across the rest of the country, aided by Russia and Iran.

Erdoğan reiterated that Türkiye hopes to maximize its cooperation with Egypt and Gulf countries "on a win-win basis," at a time when Ankara intensified diplomacy to mend its fraught ties with Cairo and some Gulf Arab nations after years of tensions.