{"id":16985,"date":"2024-02-21T12:57:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T11:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/?p=16985"},"modified":"2024-02-22T15:01:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T14:01:25","slug":"regionale-machten-vernieuwen-banden-erdogans-bezoek-aan-cairo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/regionale-machten-vernieuwen-banden-erdogans-bezoek-aan-cairo\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional powers renew ties: Erdo\u011fan's visit to Cairo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo: President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan - Flickr<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan visited Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Cairo on the 14th of February. The visit marks a new era of cooperation between the two countries, which have been<\/span> tense<\/span><\/a> for years since the ousting of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, an ally of T\u00fcrkiye, in 2013. Erdo\u011fan and El Sisi held bilateral talks focusing not only on relations between their countries but also on regional challenges, particularly the situation in Gaza. El Sisi also plans to visit T\u00fcrkiye for the first time since taking office in 2014. Both leaders have signed<\/a> an agreement to<\/span> set up a joint organisation, the Strategic Co-operation Council, to strengthen bilateral relations. They also want to increase trade between the two countries from $10 billion to $15 billion. The restoration of full diplomatic ties and the announcement of the two nations to work together indicate a crucial shift in the geopolitics of the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

Historical ties between Egypt and T\u00fcrkiye<\/b><\/p>\n

Tensions rose between Ankara and Cairo after the<\/span> military-backed ousting<\/span><\/a> of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. Morsi, an ally of T\u00fcrkiye from the Muslim Brotherhood, was ousted by El Sisi, the then Egyptian defence minister, which was condemned by T\u00fcrkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The subsequent suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood by the Egyptian government further strained relations between the two nations, leading to a period of diplomatic estrangement.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the years that followed, T\u00fcrkiye and Egypt stood<\/span> opposite each other<\/span><\/a> in several regional conflicts, including the civil war in Syria, the crisis in Libya and a dispute over gas production and maritime borders in the Mediterranean Sea. Competing geopolitical interests and diverging foreign policy objectives exacerbated tensions and complicated efforts to reconcile differences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ties between the two leaders have been improving behind the scenes since 2021. This improvement was first observed in 2022, when Erdo\u011fan and El Sisi shook hands during the World Cup in Qatar. The Egyptian presidency<\/span> called<\/span><\/a> this brief meeting a new beginning in relations with T\u00fcrkiye.<\/span><\/p>\n

Call for ceasefire in Gaza<\/b><\/p>\n

At a joint press conference, Erdo\u011fan and El Sisi stressed their solidarity with the people of Gaza and underlined the need for cooperation to achieve a ceasefire. President El Sisi spoke of the shared commitment to achieving calm in the West Bank to facilitate renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, that would lead to the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Erdo\u011fan<\/span> said<\/span><\/a>: \"We will continue to cooperate and stand in solidarity with our Egyptian brothers to end the bloodshed in Gaza.\" He also called on Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu not to carry out a ground invasion in Rafah, where 1.3 million Palestinians are currently<\/span> hiding<\/span><\/a>, most of whom have been displaced from other towns in Gaza.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the two regional powers have often been at odds, their interests in relation to the Gaza conflict are aligned. While the international community struggles with the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Erdo\u011fan and El Sisi's call for a ceasefire in Gaza reflects a joint effort to bring peace and stability to the region. <\/span>This <\/span>rapprochement between T\u00fcrkiye and Egypt may also indicate a growing <\/span>dissatisfaction with the role of the U.S. in the region. Erdo\u011fan<\/span> and El Sisi have <\/span>both voiced their criticism of the U.S. response to the situation in Gaza, <\/span>particularly Erdo\u011fan<\/span> who has <\/span>called<\/span><\/a> for increasing pressure on the United States to stop Israel's offensive<\/span>. This cooperation can therefore be seen, among other things, as a sign of reduced U.S. influence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shift in geopolitics<\/b><\/p>\n

Moreover, the two countries have found each other in a shared vision of autocratic governance, economics and regional politics. <\/span>This may further indicate the growing influence of so-called \"middle powers\" in the MENA region, meaning <\/span>that regional actors such as T\u00fcrkiye and Egypt are strengthening their influence in the MENA region and play a greater role in shaping geopolitical dynamics<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Foto: President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan – Flickr De Turkse president Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan heeft op 14 februari een bezoek gebracht aan Egyptische president Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Ca\u00efro. Dit bezoek markeert een nieuw tijdperk van samenwerking tussen de twee landen, die jarenlang gespannen was na de afzetting van Egyptische president Mohammed Morsi, een bondgenoot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[220],"class_list":["post-16985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-turkije","location-egypte","location-turkije"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}