Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry and Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu say diplomatic relations to be upgraded. to ambassador level 'as soon as possible"
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu have recently announced their commitment to upgrading diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The announcement was made during a joint press conference in Ankara, where both ministers expressed their desire for closer ties between Egypt and Turkey. This move is seen as an important step towards restoring bilateral cooperation that has been strained since 2013 due to political differences.
The decision by these two foreign ministers shows that they are willing to put aside past disagreements and work together in order to strengthen ties between the two countries. Both sides have agreed on a number of issues such as increasing trade, improving security cooperation, expanding cultural exchanges, enhancing educational opportunities for students from both nations and strengthening regional stability through dialogue rather than conflict resolution methods like military intervention or sanctions.
Additionally, it was also agreed upon that diplomatic relations should be upgraded “as soon as possible” with ambassador-level representation being established at each nation’s embassy in Cairo or Istanbul respectively.
This agreement signals a new era of collaboration between Egypt and Turkey which could potentially lead to greater economic prosperity for both countries along with increased regional stability throughout North Africa & the Middle East region more broadly speaking.
It will be interesting how this newfound relationship develops over time but one thing is certain: there is now hope for better days ahead thanks largely due this recent development involving Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry & his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu agreeing on upgrading diplomatic relations “as soon as possible
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 will be remembered as the year that tensions between the West and Moscow increased and a difficult war with no end in sight began. The year has also witnessed some key peace attempts originating from Türkiye, a NATO member, which has a working partnership with Russia on different crises like Syria, attempting to create a common ground between Kyiv and Moscow.
Turkish peace efforts were successful and yielded some noteworthy outcomes, such as the historic grain agreement and the prisoner-of-war exchange between Russia and Ukraine. In order to restore its relations with Israel and Egypt, two significant Middle Eastern nations with which it had deteriorated in the 2010s, Ankara has also started other major peace initiatives.
2022, in Gregory Simons’ opinion, was “a pivotal moment” for Türkiye because the nation “managed to negotiate achievements that no other country can,” according to the associate professor at the Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University.
The example of Ukraine as a geopolitical flashpoint between the US and Russia, according to Simons, “has seen Turkey take a role as an honest broker in the conflict,” which reaffirmed the country’s wisdom in establishing and developing an independent balancing and mediating role in the current era of risk and uncertainty.
The grain shipping agreement, which Simons says TRT World demonstrated Ankara’s developing position as a subject and not an object of events, is one example of Ankara’s hard work and perseverance along political and economic tracks that set it apart from many other Western states. Mesut Hakki Casin, a professor of international law at Yeditepe University, describes Turkey’s attempts to resolve the Ukraine conflict as “the world’s most important peace actor that left its stamp on the year” in 2022.
According to Casin, Turkey played the role of mediator in the crisis as required by the 33rd article of the UN, and it successfully demonstrated its neutrality policy in the Ukrainian war, just
as it did in the Second World War. Ankara avoided any losses during World War II by remaining neutral between the Allied armies and the Nazi Germany-led Axis powers. Turkey has resisted joining Western sanctions against Russia despite intense pressure from the US and Europe because it thinks that engaging Moscow in dialogue is preferable to isolate it. While vehemently upholding Kyiv’s territorial integrity, Turkey has simultaneously asked Moscow to leave all occupied Ukrainian territory.
The conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated that Turkey today “pursues a fundamentally different foreign and security course than that adopted during the Cold War,” according to Simons. He claims that on this route, Ankara serves as a link between the Western-centric and non-Western-centric worlds. Erdogan and Israeli President Isaac Herzog had a historic meeting in Turkey in March.
Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid met again at a high level in September, this time outside the UN General Assembly. Erdogan also stated that he intended to travel to Israel following the elections in November.
This high-level meeting strategy to strengthen relationships between Turkey and other nations is also evident in Ankara’s efforts to normalise relations with Egypt. Erdogan met Sisi in Qatar last month and stated that “there should be no bitterness in politics,” alluding to previous hostilities between the two countries as a result of the Arab Spring uprisings.
