The visit of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to Istanbul represents a new step in strengthening and normalizing relations between Ankara and Cairo. The process of resuming relations between the two countries took rapid steps in recent months, culminating in the visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Egypt last February.
Final step
But the Egyptian minister’s recent visit represents a prelude to the final step in a process that has been building up for more than two years, with confidence-building measures between the two parties, after which things will not be the same as before.
According to Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesman and director of the Public Diplomacy Department at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shukry’s visit comes within the framework of preparation for the visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Türkiye, in response to President Erdoğan’s invitation to hold the first meeting of the high-level strategic council between the two countries.
But according to Abu Zeid, the Egyptian and Turkish sides exchanged views on several regional and international files, the most prominent of which was the raging crisis taking place in the Gaza Strip.
On this issue, there is a great agreement between the two countries in many aspects, especially the necessity of reaching an immediate and permanent ceasefire, allowing humanitarian aid to enter without any obstacles, and warning against the consequences of undertaking any military operation in the Palestinian Rafah, in addition to the importance of continuing coordination. Cairo and Ankara see great importance in continuing ongoing coordination and joint work to prevent the expansion of the conflict in the region.
The two capitals also believe in the importance of coordination regarding the situation in Libya to implement international resolutions related to resolving the crisis, as well as regarding resolving the Syrian crisis and preventing the collapse of Sudanese state institutions. The two countries also agree on the necessity and importance of strengthening trade relations in the interest of their peoples.
The visit’s timing
But according to observers, the context in which the visit comes gives it great importance, considering the increasing possibilities of expanding the conflict in the Middle East against the backdrop of mutual escalation between Iran and Israel.
It also comes at a time that coincides with the visit of the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, to Istanbul, following a visit by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to the Qatari capital, Doha.
Haniyeh’s visit comes after Qatar, the important mediator in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas, announced its desire to re-evaluate its role, while negotiations to reach a truce and release the Israeli hostages in Gaza falter.
According to an informed source, Doha has come to believe that it is difficult for it to continue bearing this burden, and it believes that this role has turned into a means of political targeting of it and its interests and has also made it vulnerable to blackmail from several parties.
The source expects that Türkiye, with its great political weight and credibility with contradictory parties, will be an alternative to Qatar.
“But in any case, Türkiye or others cannot exercise this role without coordination with Cairo, which represents an integral party in any arrangements related to the Palestinian issue for historical and geopolitical reasons”, the source said.
Therefore, according to the source, Shukri’s visit may lay the foundation for a new arena in cooperation between the two countries. It will certainly give great dynamism to the movement of major players seeking to achieve a major breakthrough in resolving the Palestinian issue, which has been affected for many years by the polarization that accompanied the Arab Spring and the victory of ideology at the expense of reality facts, which greatly harmed the rights of the Palestinian people.
Same strategic square
According to a second source, the two countries are counting heavily on the Strategic Cooperation Council, which is preparing to hold its first meeting during the upcoming visit of President Sisi.
The source pointed out that the two countries are conducting a study of a broad legal framework of agreements with the aim of achieving common goals through this council.
“The areas and issues where the interests of both parties agree and conflict are too great to allow for any errors that may result from a lack of coordination or misunderstanding”, he added.
In his view, the Strategic Cooperation Council is trying to correct the mistakes of the past that have accumulated and led the two parties to a state of estrangement due to which the interests of Ankara and Cairo in the Mediterranean and Libya were harmed, and in which a consensus could have been reached with a little coordination.
The source indicated that Shukri’s visit to Türkiye, which was primarily aimed at arranging Sisi’s visit to Ankara, did not ignore the bilateral relations between the two countries, of which trade represents an essential part.
“The gains that can be achieved for the two countries are much greater than the current numbers, which requires redoubled efforts that cannot be made without the intervention of the two presidents,” he said.
The source expects a breakthrough in communication and cooperation between the two countries at all levels, adding that things after Sisi’s upcoming visit will not be the same as they were before.
In my view, the relationship between the two countries awaits more than normalization, cooperation and coordination. Until the two countries can achieve their interim goals in the ongoing process of normalization, they will find themselves, due to the ferocity of the regional and international, political and economic challenges, in a position of lining up in the same strategic square due to the limited options and similar risks.