A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tanju Bilgic, has said Egypt will be invited to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul in April according to Sunday's Zaman. Egypt, Bilgic said, is the president of the OIC at the moment and will "naturally" be invited to participate in what will be the 13th OIC summit. Who the Egyptian delegation will consist of is not yet clear: "The decision on the level of Egyptian representation at the summit will be taken by Egypt's own authorities," Bilgic explained. Turkey and Egypt have been bitter rivals since the July 2013 Egyptian military coup which ousted the Muslim Brotherhood president-elect Mohammed Morsi. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to recognize the new government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and supports the outlawed Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood party. As recently as last November 24 Erdogan said of Sisi that he will "not reconcile [with him] or accept him [as a legitimate president]." It would be very noteworthy if Sisi attends this upcoming OIC summit and meets Erdogan. Turkey has become estranged from several countries. In recent weeks both Russia and Iraq have condemned its actions in the region. This has led it to seek a rapprochement with Israel, whom it fell out with back in 2010 over the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident. As part of a normalization of bilateral relations Turkey has demanded that Israel ease its blockade of the Gaza Strip. This has, according to a report in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper, led Cairo to object to any Israeli concessions to the Turks over Gaza.
