Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu today welcomed the “important” visit of his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shukri, three weeks after the deadly February 6 earthquake, as Ankara seeks ways to normalize relations with Cairo.

“We are opening new pages in our relations with Egypt,” the Turkish Foreign Minister said during a joint press conference with the Egyptian Foreign Minister in the port of Mersin, from where a ship with humanitarian aid from Egypt was heading to Turkey.

“The presence of Mr. Sukri in Turkey is extremely important,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Cairo’s relationship with Ankara has cooled since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power in Egypt in 2013 after the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, an ally of Tayyip Erdogan.

However, Turkey has been trying for months to normalize its relations with a number of regional powers such as Israel and Egypt.

So, the presidents of Turkey and Egypt exchanged their first handshake at the end of November, on the fields of the World Cup in Qatar.

Sameh Shukri, who described his visit to Turkey as a “message of friendship and solidarity”, had previously visited Syria, which was also hit by the February 6 earthquake. Egypt’s relations with Syria were also frozen for a decade.

Source: RES