El-Sisi’s visit signals strategic shift in Turkiye-Egypt relations

Special El-Sisi’s visit signals strategic shift in Turkiye-Egypt relations
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan is received by Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in El-Alamein. (X/@MFATurkiye)
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Updated 03 September 2024
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El-Sisi’s visit signals strategic shift in Turkiye-Egypt relations

El-Sisi’s visit signals strategic shift in Turkiye-Egypt relations
  • Visit follows Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s recent trip to Cairo, where he met El-Sisi and his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty
  • Visit continues the recent momentum in the Ankara-Cairo relationship, initiated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Egypt in February

ANKARA: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will visit Turkiye on Sept. 4, marking a significant milestone in the thawing of relations between the two countries after years of hostilities.

The visit follows Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s recent trip to Cairo, where he met El-Sisi and his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty to lay the groundwork for the upcoming visit. The agenda is expected to include key issues such as Gaza.

This visit continues the recent momentum in the Ankara-Cairo relationship, initiated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Egypt in February — the first since 2012 — as both countries aim to elevate their ties to the level of “strategic cooperation.”

The diplomatic breakthrough led to an exchange of ambassadors in July 2023, and the two sides are expected to sign several agreements in sectors such as energy and tourism, alongside the inaugural meeting of the Strategic Cooperation Council.

El-Sisi’s visit is part of Turkiye’s broader diplomatic outreach, launched in 2020, to repair relations with former regional adversaries — a strategy aimed at ending Turkiye’s regional isolation and attracting critical investment.

However, restoring ties with Egypt has been one of Ankara’s most challenging diplomatic endeavors because it required Ankara to realign its relations with the Muslim Brotherhood by restricting the movement’s activities in Turkiye, closing its Istanbul-based TV stations that broadcast critical coverage of El-Sisi and by deporting some of its members.

Dr. Selin Nasi, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics’ European Institute, thinks that the upcoming visit marks the culmination of a long and tumultuous diplomatic process between Turkiye and Egypt that gained significant momentum after the visit by Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister at the time, to Turkiye in the wake of the earthquake disaster in February 2023.

“Relations between the two countries had soured over Turkiye’s support for the pro-Muslim Brotherhood government of Mohamed Morsi, which was overthrown in 2013. Following the Arab Spring in 2010, Turkiye shifted toward an ideology-driven foreign policy, hoping to position itself as a regional leader by supporting pro-Muslim Brotherhood movements,” she told Arab News.

However, for Nasi, this approach strained relations with Egypt and several Gulf countries, which viewed the Muslim Brotherhood as a significant threat to their stability.

“Over the years, Turkiye and Egypt found themselves on opposing sides of various regional issues, including disputes over gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean and political conflicts in Libya,” she said.

“When Egypt signed a maritime deal with Greece that same year, it did not go unnoticed by Ankara that the deal respected Turkiye’s maritime claims. Although Turkiye continues to support the Tripoli-based government in Libya, its recent announcement to reopen the consulate in Benghazi suggests a potential shift in its Libyan policy. With escalating tensions in Libya over control of the central bank and oil resources, the issue will surely be a topic of discussion in the leaders’ upcoming meeting.”

Nasi thinks that El-Sisi’s visit will also have some repercussions over the two countries’ humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

“Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Egypt has become increasingly important for Turkiye,” she said. “As Turkiye’s relations with Israel have significantly deteriorated, Egypt has emerged as a critical gateway for delivering aid to Gaza. Until today, Turkiye has sent seven ships carrying humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza via Egypt’s Al Arish port.”

As both countries have a shared concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and support the Palestinians’ right to an independent state, Nasi thinks that Ankara’s support for Hamas — which is considered the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — remains a major point of divergence.

“It seems that Turkiye and Egypt have reached an understanding to ‘agree to disagree,’ provided that Egypt would prevent the infiltration of Hamas affiliates across its borders, keep Hamas at bay and under control,” she said.

The two countries are also working to increase bilateral trade to $15 billion annually in the next five years from, about $6 billion at present.

Potential avenues of cooperation in the fields of liquefied natural gas and nuclear energy as well as expansion of the existing free trade agreement and resuming of the freight shipping between the Turkish port of Mersin and Alexandria in Egypt are also on the table.

The timing of the visit is also significant, experts note.

“By projecting an image of solidarity over their shared commitment to the Palestinian cause, Turkiye seeks to compensate for its exclusion from the ongoing diplomatic negotiations. From Ankara’s perspective, this diplomatic engagement aims to strengthen ties with Egypt and reaffirm Turkiye’s role in regional politics,” Nasi said.

According to Pinar Akpinar, assistant professor at the department of international affairs and Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University, Turkiye’s rapprochement process with Egypt should not be viewed in isolation from its broader regional policy.

“Simultaneously, Turkiye has also been engaging in rapprochement with Syria, where it has proposed four conditions for peace. Turkiye plays a significant role in promoting regional stability amid rising tensions in the Middle East,” she told Arab News.

“Turkiye is keenly aware that the possibility of an all-out war looms on the horizon, making stability a crucial objective to prevent such an outcome,” Akpinar added.

“Furthermore, both Turkiye and Egypt have been instrumental in Gaza, particularly in humanitarian efforts and the ongoing mediation process led by Qatar. They can establish a joint mediation committee, organize a regional peace summit, create a joint reconstruction fund and develop renewable energy systems in Gaza. They are already active but can work in a more coordinated fashion. Together, Turkiye, Egypt and Qatar have emerged as key actors in fostering regional stability,” she said.


Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps
Updated 18 February 2025
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Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps
  • The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centers for armed militant groups

JERUSALEM: Tens of thousands of Palestinians living in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank have left their homes as a weeks-long Israeli offensive has demolished houses and torn up vital infrastructure in the heavily built up townships, Palestinian authorities said.
Israeli forces began their operation in the refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Jan. 21, deploying hundreds of troops and bulldozers that demolished houses and dug up roads, driving almost all of the camp’s residents out.
“We don’t know what’s going on in the camp but there is continuous demolition and roads being dug up,” said Mohammed Al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin camp services committee.

An Israeli army excavator demolishes a residential building in the Tulkarem camp for Palestinian refugees during an ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The operation, which Israel says is aimed at thwarting Iranian-backed militant groups in the West Bank, has since been extended to other camps, notably the Tulkarm refugee camp and the nearby Nur Shams camp, both of which have also been devastated. The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centers for armed militant groups. They have been raided repeatedly by the Israeli military but the current operation, which began as a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, has been on an unusually large scale. According to figures from the Palestinian Authority, around 17,000 people have now left Jenin refugee camp, leaving the site almost completely deserted, while in Nur Shams 6,000 people, or about two thirds of the total, have left, with another 10,000 leaving from Tulkarm camp.
“The ones who are left are trapped,” said Nihad Al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee. “The Civil Defense, the Red Crescent and the Palestinian security forces brought them some food yesterday but the army is still bulldozing and destroying the camp.” The Israeli raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn up large stretches of roadway as well as cutting off water and power, but the military has denied forcing residents to leave their homes.
“People obviously have the possibility to move or go where they want, if they will. But if they don’t, they’re allowed to stay,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
The operation began as Israel moved to banish the main UN Palestinian relief organization UNRWA from its headquarters in East Jerusalem and cut it off from any contact with Israeli officials.
The ban, which took effect at the end of January, has hit UNRWA’s work in the West Bank and Gaza, where it provides aid for millions of Palestinians in the refugee camps.
Israel has accused UNRWA of cooperating with Hamas and said some UNRWA workers even took part in the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that set off the 15-month war in Gaza.

 


More than one million Syrians return to their homes: UN

People walk past shops in Homs on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
People walk past shops in Homs on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 19 February 2025
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More than one million Syrians return to their homes: UN

People walk past shops in Homs on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
  • “Since the fall of the regime in Syria we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees

GENEVA: More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Assad, including 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.
Assad was toppled in December in a rebel offensive, putting an end to his family’s decades-long grip on power in the Middle Eastern country and bookmarking a civil war that broke out in 2011, with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Syria’s war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes.
The Islamist-led rebels whose offensive ousted Assad have sought to assure the international community that they have broken with their past and will respect the rights of minorities.
“Since the fall of the regime in Syria we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.
“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though, otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.
At a meeting in Paris in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Turkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”
The meeting’s final statement also pledged support for Syria’s new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”
 

 


Israeli military says it struck weapons belonging to former Syrian administration in southern Syria

Israeli military says it struck weapons belonging to former Syrian administration in southern Syria
Updated 19 February 2025
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Israeli military says it struck weapons belonging to former Syrian administration in southern Syria

Israeli military says it struck weapons belonging to former Syrian administration in southern Syria

CAIRO: The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it struck weapons which it said belonged to the former Syrian administration in southern Syria.

 


Algiers slams French minister’s visit to W. Sahara

Algiers slams French minister’s visit to W. Sahara
Updated 18 February 2025
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Algiers slams French minister’s visit to W. Sahara

Algiers slams French minister’s visit to W. Sahara
  • France’s stance on Western Sahara has been ambiguous in recent years, often straining its ties with Morocco

ALGIERS: Algeria on Tuesday denounced a visit by French Culture Minister Rachida Dati to Western Sahara, after Paris recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory, as “objectionable on multiple levels.”
The vast desert territory is a former Spanish colony largely controlled by Morocco but claimed for decades by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.
Dati, who described her visit as “historic,” launched with Moroccan Culture Minister Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid a French cultural mission in the territory’s main city, Laayoune.
An Algerian foreign ministry statement posted on social media Tuesday said the visit “reflects blatant disregard for international legality by a permanent member of the UN Security Council.”
“This visit reinforces Morocco’s fait accompli in Western Sahara, a territory where the decolonization process remains incomplete and the right to self-determination unfulfilled,” it said.
Dati’s trip, a first for a French official, “reflects the detestable image of a former colonial power in solidarity with a new one,” the statement added.
The United Nations considers Western Sahara to be a “non-self-governing territory” and has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991, whose stated aim is to organize a referendum on the territory’s future.
But Rabat has repeatedly rejected any vote in which independence is an option, instead proposing autonomy under Morocco.
France’s stance on Western Sahara has been ambiguous in recent years, often straining its ties with Morocco.
But in July, French President Emmanuel Macron said Rabat’s autonomy plan was the “only basis” to resolve the Western Sahara dispute.
Algeria has backed the separatist Polisario Front and cut diplomatic relations with Rabat in 2021 — the year after Morocco normalized ties with Israel under a deal that awarded it US recognition of its annexation of the Western Sahara.
In October, the UN Security Council called for parties to “resume negotiations” to reach a “lasting and mutually acceptable solution” to the Western Sahara dispute.
In November 2020, the Polisario Front said it was ending a 29-year ceasefire with Morocco after Moroccan troops were deployed to the far south of the territory to remove independence supporters blocking the only road to Mauritania.
The Polisario Front claims the route is illegal, arguing that it did not exist when the ceasefire was established in 1991.
 

 


Kurdistan region’s pipeline restart ready to go, foreign minister says

Kurdistan region’s pipeline restart ready to go, foreign minister says
Updated 18 February 2025
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Kurdistan region’s pipeline restart ready to go, foreign minister says

Kurdistan region’s pipeline restart ready to go, foreign minister says
  • Baghdad has periodically withheld the Kurdistan region’s share of the federal budget to try to stop it from exporting oil independently

BAGHDAD: A major pipeline connecting Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to Turkiye is ready to reopen and resume exports, the Kurdish foreign minister said on Tuesday, potentially ending a dispute between Baghdad and Irbil that led to the closure of the pipeline in 2023.
Foreign Minister Safeen Dizayee declined to say when the pipeline would reopen but said it would mark a turning point in relations between Kurdistan and Baghdad.
Iraq’s oil minister said on Monday the Iraq-Turkiye pipeline (ITP) will resume next week.
“All arrangements that were set on the table have been agreed to, with the aim to prepare for re-exports. There shouldn’t be any hiccups. The legal aspects have been met, the technical aspects are in place,” Dizayee told Reuters by phone. “The button just has to be pushed to increase production and then re-export.”
The oil flows were halted by Turkiye in March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion for unauthorized pipeline exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government between 2014 and 2018.
Negotiations to restart the pipeline have been ongoing, with US officials participating in some of the talks.
Resuming oil exports will boost the Kurdistan region’s budget, Dizayee said.
“This means Kurdistan will benefit from the federal budget and hopefully this will end the saga of (civil servants’) salaries coming or not coming, received in dribs and drabs,” Dizayee said.
Baghdad has periodically withheld the Kurdistan region’s share of the federal budget to try to stop it from exporting oil independently.
Oil producers in the Kurdistan region have had to wind down production without an export route. It will likely take some time for them to restart their oil wells and for the pipeline to use its full capacity. Before it was shut down, it transported around 450,000 barrels per day.
“They’ve invested a lot. It was a risk they took and it must pay off. They [the companies] need assurances that their investment will not be down the drain,” Dizayee said. “Compensation is something that needs to be discussed.”
An international consultancy will be brought in to do an assessment of the cost of production, expenses, cost recovery and the production sharing agreements, he said.