Turkey and Egypt announced on Tuesday the full normalisation of their relations, ending almost a decade of diplomatic hostility. This move on the Turkish side is clearly aimed at undermining Greece's partnerships with regional allies, as well as Greece's EEZ, a vast area rich in natural resources.
In separate simultaneous statements, the two countries said they have decided to mutually restore their ambassadors in their respective capitals, fully restoring ties at the highest diplomatic level. Al-Monitor reported that Turkey appointed Salih Mutlu Sen as its ambassador in Cairo and Egypt chose Amr Elhamami as its envoy to Ankara, according to the joint statements.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, Turkey's new Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey and Egypt are two powerful countries in the region and that they cannot "afford to be apart" from each other. "We have now passed an important stage in our normalization efforts. From now on, our relations will continue to evolve rapidly in political, economic and other areas," he said.
The two countries severed diplomatic relations after the 2013 coup that overthrew Egypt's government led by President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged as one of the major international supporters of the anti-coup protesters, with his country becoming a safe haven for exiled Brotherhood members.
As part of its effort to mend regional fences that began in 2021, Turkey is attempting to re-engage with its former regional rivals, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Egypt. Although the country has managed to improve its relations with the four Middle Eastern powers, including the full normalization of its ties with Israel, Egypt has long resisted a full normalization with its Eastern Mediterranean neighbor, mainly due to Ankara's steady support for the Brotherhood.
The two capitals are also adding contrasts over the conflict in Libya and what Cairo describes as Ankara's revisionist policy in the Arab world as part of Erdogan's neo-Ottoman ambitions in the region.
Meetings between the two capitals remained limited to technical-level contacts, with the exception of a brief meeting between Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi late last year on the sidelines of the Football World Cup in Qatar, until the twin earthquakes of February 6 that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey.
After the first phone call between Erdogan and Sisi in the context of post-disaster diplomacy, Sukri made a solidarity visit to Turkey's earthquake zone in late February, where he met with Turkey's top diplomat. Subsequently, then-Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu became the first Turkish foreign minister to visit Cairo since 2012.
Sukri traveled to Turkey again last week, but the two top diplomats did not announce a full restoration during that visit. The two capitals decided to work toward full normalization during that trip last month.
As we have written in Pentapostagma, Erdogan is secretly seeking an agreement with Al Sisi to cancel the EEZ agreements with Greece and Cyprus. Any Egypt-Turkey rapprochement is already being closely monitored by our country, while the partial delimitation of the EEZ east of the 28th meridian and electrical interconnection, via submarine cable between the two countries is a given and cannot be changed for anything, especially while President Al Sisi and the Egyptian military are in power.
What they owe or lack in money, the Turks will seek in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, with the arrogance of a regional power capable of even going to war to impose its will.
It seems that the developments confirm once again Pentapostagma, which a month ago had foreshadowed the imminent normalization of relations between the two countries, and Erdogan's hidden agenda against Greece and Cyprus through such an agreement.
