Her Foreign Minister Turkey, Mevlut Cavusogluannounced today from Cairo that a “meeting is being prepared” between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to seal the end of a decade-long rift in relations.

At a press conference he gave along with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Sukri, Cavusoglu said he “wants to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries at the highest level.”

“It is possible that in the future we will disperse, but we will do our best to avoid a new break in our relations,” he assured.

Sukri affirmed the presence of “political will on the part of the presidents of the two countries (…) in order to normalize relations.”

USA welcome visit

The United States “welcomed” the visit, which it describes as “an important step towards regional stability and prosperity,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted.

Turkey’s relations with Egypt ended abruptly when Sisi came to power in 2013 after overthrowing Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood alumnus and a close ally of Turkey. At the time, President Erdogan stated that he would “never” talk to “someone like Sisi”.

The day after the February 6 earthquake that killed nearly 48,500 people in Turkey, the two presidents spoke on the phone. They already shook hands in November when they met in Qatar during the World Cup.

Today, Cavusoglu said that “after the elections” in Turkey, which are scheduled for May 14, “our president will meet with President Sisi.”

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}