Egypt and Turkey are leading talks on bilateral and regional issues with the aim of rebuilding their fractured relationship.
Egypt and Turkey said they had had “frank” talks in the first official diplomatic talks between regional rivals for eight years, according to a joint statement.
“The discussions were frank and in-depth,” the statement released by Cairo and Ankara said Thursday.
“They addressed bilateral issues as well as a number of regional issues, in particular the situation in Libya, Syria, Iraq and the need to achieve peace and security in the Eastern Mediterranean region”, he added.
A Turkish delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal, meet Wednesday and Thursday in Cairo with an Egyptian team led by his counterpart, Hamdi Loza.
Ankara and Cairo have both faced American pressure since the departure of their ally, former President Donald Trump, and both have extended olive branches to their neighbors.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been arguing since the army’s removal in 2013 of President Mohamed Morsi, personally supported by Erdogan.
Erdogan said on March 12 that the two countries had “intelligence, diplomatic and economic” contacts, adding that he hoped for “strong” ties between the two nations.
A week after Erdogan’s remarks, his government asked three Istanbul-based Egyptian TV stations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood to soften their political coverage critical of the Egyptian government. The television stations immediately stopped broadcasting certain political programs.
Egypt welcomed the decision, calling it “a good initiative on the Turkish side which creates a favorable atmosphere to discuss the issues of dispute between the two nations”.
The two countries have also been on opposite sides of the conflict in oil-rich Libya, which descended into chaos following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi.
According to two Egyptian intelligence sources, Turkey is ready to organize a tripartite meeting between Turkish, Egyptian and Libyan officials to agree on controversial issues in Libya, including the presence of foreign fighters.
Turkey said Thursday it agreed that all foreign mercenaries in Libya should leave the country, but Ankara has a bilateral agreement with the Libyan government to have its troops stationed there.
The Turkish delegation also told the Egyptians that Ankara could not hand over the Muslim Brotherhood leaders wanted by Egypt, adding that most of those leaders have now legalized their residency in Turkey, the sources said.
Turkish officials have not commented on the content of the talks. However, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Ankara was fully open to improving its ties with all countries in the region, not just Egypt.
