Sameh Shoukry: For resuming ties, Turkey’s actions should be in agreement with Egypt’s principles

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stated on Sunday that Turkey’s movements should be in harmony with Egypt’s principles and aims to ties between the two countries return to normal. He also affirmed the links between Cairo and Ankara after years of tensions however; he noted that that dialogue was incomplete.

Indeed, ties have not been good since Egypt’s army ousted Mohammed Mursi, who was the country’s first democratically elected president and an ally of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, after the demonstrations in 2013.

Shoukry also indicated that there is no communication outside the normal diplomatic framework. If real actions from Turkey show alignment with Egyptian principles and goals then the groundwork will be laid for relations to return to normal.

Furthermore, top Turkish officials announced, last week, that diplomatic contacts had continued and that Ankara was looking for further collaboration, while Erdogan stated that contacts were not at the highest level, but right below the highest level. Egyptian intelligence sources stated that Turkey had suggested a gathering to discuss collaboration.

Actually, any disorder in relations between the two regional powerhouses could have consequences around the Middle East, where Cairo and Ankara have tried to influence events in various fields and stand on opposing parties in a Mediterranean maritime conflict.

Otherwise, Shoukry informed lawmakers that there were positive messages from Qatar showing an intention to further resuming ties after a summit in Saudia Arabia’s al-Ula in January.

At the summit, Egypt and its Gulf allies Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain decided to restore diplomatic, trade and travel relations with Doha that have been ceased in 2017 after claims that Qatar supported terrorism, while it denied that accusation.