Sisi-Erdogan meeting marks new start in bilateral ties: Egypt

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed that their meeting in Doha will be a start to take bilateral relations between the two countries forward, Egypt said on Monday.

Sisi and Erdogan shook hands in Qatar and described it as a new start in bilateral relations, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement on Monday, after years of tension.

Both leaders met on Sunday in the Qatari capital on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the World Cup.

On Sunday, the Turkish president, too, termed his meeting with Sisi as the first step to launch a new path in ties between the two countries.

“We said that a process can begin. A step has been taken here to start such a process and we had the talks. It is my hope that we want to move the process – that started with our ministers – to a good point later, hopefully to the high-level meetings,” Erdogan said.

The unity of the Turkish nation and the Egyptian people in the past has been very important to Türkiye, Erdogan said, adding: “Why not again, why not start again. We gave a signal.”

Diplomatic relations between Türkiye and Egypt are maintained at the level of charges d’affaires on both sides since Egypt’s 2013 military coup which overthrew late President Mohammed Morsi.

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