The foreign ministries of Egypt and Turkey announced on Tuesday that they had appointed ambassadors to each other’s capitals for the first time in a decade, making headway towards restoring full diplomatic ties.
Amr Elhamamy has been appointed as Egypt’s ambassador in Ankara while Turkey chose Salih Miltu Sen as its ambassador in Cairo. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the appointments, following so many years of tensions between the two nations, marked an important milestone in the normalisation of the relations.
“From now on, our relations will continue to improve rapidly in political, economic and all other fields. This is the will of our president and government,” Fidan told a news conference.
What happened in 2013 between Turkey and Egypt?
In 2013, Egypt told the Turkish ambassador to exit the country after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan supported freeing Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi. Egypt then accused Erodgan of interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs and provocation. Following this, Cairo decided to expel Egypt’s ambassador and barred him, declaring him “persona non grata”. Morsi hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood group, which Egypt had designated as a terrorist organisation. Turkey, on the other hand, supported the group.
Normalising ties
The consultations between the two nations started in 2021 after Turkey sought better ties with multiple nations including Egypt and Israel. During the FIFA World Cup 2022, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Turkey’ Erodgan shook hands, accelerating the process of normalisation of the nations’ ties.
After massive earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria in February this year, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Turkey to show solidarity. More than 50,000 people died due to the earthquakes in the region. Following this visit, Turkey’s former Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Egypt in March. He was the highest ranking Turkish official to visit the country in over 10 years.
(With Agency Inputs)