Top Turkish diplomat to visit Egypt after a decade of tension

Turkey’s foreign minister will travel to Cairo on Saturday in a further sign of thawing relations a decade after diplomatic links were cut by the overthrow of Egypt’s then president and Ankara’s ally Mohamed Mursi.

The visit by Mevlut Cavusoglu will be the first time Turkey has sent its top diplomat there since Egypt’s army chief, now president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the overthrow of Mursi in July 2013.

It comes two weeks after Cavusoglu’s Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shourky, visited Turkey to show solidarity after the massive earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 in Turkey and Syria.

“All aspects of our bilateral relations will be discussed, and views will be exchanged on regional and international issues,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said. The visit was announced simultaneously by Egypt’s foreign ministry.

Mursi, a senior figure in the Muslim Brotherhood who died in 2019, was supported by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party.

But there have been signs of a growing rapprochement between Turkey and Egypt.

Sisi and Erdogan shook hands during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

In the wake of the deadly earthquakes last month, Sisi and Erdogan spoke on the phone, and Egypt’s Shoukry visited Turkey on Feb. 27, marking another first in a decade.

After visiting earthquake-hit areas, Turkey’s Cavusoglu said he could visit Egypt soon, and that Erdogan and Sisi could meet “either in Turkey or Egypt” after that.

In another sign of normalisation, Cavusoglu said in November that Turkey could re-appoint its ambassador to Cairo “in coming months”.