Middle East
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Egyptian President Abdulfettah al-Sisi (L) shaking hands after signing an agreement and before a joint press conference at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on September 4, 2024. Photo: Turkish presidency
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made his first visit to Ankara on Wednesday for a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the two countries mend ties.
“We reaffirmed our commitment to advancing cooperation in every field, including industry, trade, defense, health, environment, and energy,” Erdogan said during a joint press conference.
Relations between the two countries deteriorated in 2013 following Sisi’s rise to power through a coup that brought about the end of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi’s rule. As president, Sisi outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that received significant backing from Ankara, prompting many of its members to seek refuge in Turkey.
At the time, Erdogan said he would never speak to anyone like Sisi.
Diplomatic relations between them were reduced to the level of charges d’affaires for a decade but began to warm up when Sisi reached out to Erdogan after a devastating February 2023 earthquake killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey.
Erdogan visited Cairo in February this year for the first time since Sisi’s inauguration.
“My visit today, following President Erdogan's visit to Cairo, reflects our shared will to begin a new phase of friendship and cooperation between Egypt and Turkey,” Sisi said on X.
Although the two countries remained distant for a decade, trade between them never stopped.
“In the last 10 years, we have remained among Egypt's top five trading partners,” Erdogan said, adding that his country’s goal is to increase the trade volume from $10 billion to $15 billion within five years.
The two leaders also signed 17 agreements, according to the Turkish presidency.
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