Egypt statement from Erdogan shaking hands with Sisi: Why not start again?

Updated 8 hours ago

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan greeted and shook hands with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah es-Sisi at the reception given to the leaders due to the opening of the World Cup in Qatar.

President Erdogan, on his way back from Qatar, told reporters, “We said that a process could begin. A step has been taken here to start such a process and we have held talks with the best.”

Yesterday, the Cairo 24 website was the first to write that the two leaders did not just shake hands, but that a summit also took place.

President Erdoğan said that they want the process that started with the ministers to be moved to a good point with higher-level talks, and that the peoples’ unity in the past is more important than the leaders’ coming together:

“Why not again, why not start again? We signaled them. Hopefully, after nothing extraordinary happens, we will take this step for the best.

“Of course, our only request from them is; With these talks, let us establish peace here for those who take a stand against us in the Mediterranean, and hopefully continue on our way with him.”

Turkey has been involved in activities to improve relations with Middle Eastern countries for a while, and has taken mutual steps with countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, with which it was in tension before, but Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu complained that the normalization process that started with Egypt last year was too slow.

In an interview on October 29, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sami Shukri said that they did not continue the normalization process with Turkey because there was no change in Turkey’s Libya policy.

After the military overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood administration in Egypt in 2013, Turkey and Egypt mutually withdrew their ambassadors.

The handshake between Erdogan and Sisi was the highest level of contact between the two countries, nine years after the coup in Egypt.

Erdogan, who attended the G20 Summit in Indonesia last week, answered the questions of journalists and asked a question about relations with Egypt and Syria, “There is no resentment, resentment or resentment in politics forever. You can also make a renewal” and added:

“At the moment, as Turkey, we can reconsider relations with countries that we have trouble with on these issues. Especially after the June election, we can make a new one. And accordingly, we can continue on our way.”

Erdogan has previously targeted Sisi with harsh expressions such as “Murderer”, “Cruel” and “Coup plotter”; He used the “Rabia” sign, a symbol used by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to protest the coup in Egypt, with the meaning of “One Nation, One Flag, One Homeland, One State”.

In a television program he attended 3 years ago, he said, “There are people who want to reconcile me with Sisi. I will never accept it, nor will I,” said Erdogan, before the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality election, which was repeated on June 23, 2019. “Are we going to call it Sisi on Sunday or Binali Yıldırım?” had used the phrase.

Erdogan’s meeting with Sisi received backlash from the opposition.

CHP Deputy Chairman Oğuz Kaan Salıcı said, “Erdogan is very happy, eye to eye, hand in hand with Sisi, whom he calls ‘killer and pharaoh’.”

IYI Party Secretary General Uğur Poyraz reminded Erdoğan of the words he said before the repeated Istanbul Metropolitan Mayoral election, “As you can see from the photo in Qatar today, Sisi is now called. What will happen to Binali Yıldırım now?” commented.

Future Party Spokesperson Serkan Özcan said, “It is best not to cut our relations with any country in order to protect the interests and reputation of our country. However, the most important thing is that our country’s reputation is not brought down in this way.”

“It is an insult to the dignity of our nation, accusing the entire opposition of being Sisi for years, calling Sisi a ‘murderer’ over and over again, saying ‘I won’t even sit at his table’, and then shaking his hand with a very happy and smiling face.”

Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Egypt have been continuing at the level of charge d’affaires for 9 years.

Exploratory talks between the two countries were held in May 2021 at the level of deputy foreign ministers to discuss the necessary steps to normalize relations, but the talks have not yet been concluded.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Samih Shukri announced last month that they unilaterally suspended talks with Turkey, which took place within the scope of the normalization process.

Shukri cited “no change in Turkey’s Libya policy” as the reason for this decision.

Egypt is reacting to the maritime jurisdiction area agreement signed between Turkey and Libya last month.

Shukri pointed out the disagreement between the House of Representatives in Tobruk and the Government of National Accord in the capital Tripoli, and claimed that the Tripoli administration did not have the authority to sign such an agreement.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in a statement on November 2, “We entered the normalization process with Egypt. This is a bilateral process. If Egypt is sincere about normalizing relations, it will take steps. Normalization is going slowly, but this is not about us.”