Egypt's President El Sisi visits Turkey for first time since taking power


Lizzie Porter
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Turkey wants to form deeper ties in the field of energy production, its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday as Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi visited Ankara for the first time since assuming power more than a decade ago.

The visit is part of attempts to rebuild ties damaged by years of political disputes, and follows an official invitation by Mr Erdogan when he visited the Egyptian capital in February. At the time, Mr El Sisi said the visit "turned a new page".

Speaking at a joint press conference with Mr Sisi, Erdogan said the two countries had reaffirmed their will to improve relations in every area, including trade, defence, health, energy, and environmental matters. Ministers from both countries signed a series of agreements ahead of the leaders' statements.

"We will enhance our multifaceted relations in a win-win manner," Mr Erdogan said, Anadolu reported.

"My visit today and that of his excellency Mr Erdogan to Cairo before reflect our common resolve to open a new page of friendship and cooperation between Egypt and Turkey," Mr El Sisi wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

The two sides will sign as many as 20 agreements related to defence, energy, tourism, health, education and culture, aiming to increase the volume of trade between the two countries to $15 billion from $10 billion, Turkish state media reported. The agenda includes the first meeting of a presidential-level strategic co-operation council between the two countries, a body that was restructured following Mr Erdogan's Cairo trip, the Turkish government's communications directorate said.

"At the council meeting, all aspects of Turkey-Egypt relations will be reviewed, and joint steps that can be taken in the upcoming period to further develop bilateral co-operation will be discussed," the statement said. "On the occasion of the meeting, the signing of various documents aimed at strengthening the contractual basis of relations is also on the agenda."

Major political differences over the past decade have rocked the relationship, although economic ties have remained strong. Trade volume topped $4.9 billion in the first seven months of 2024, according to Turkish Statistical Institute data.

Ties soured following Mr Erdogan’s vigorous opposition to the military-led overthrow in 2013 of an Islamist president backed by Ankara, Mohammed Morsi of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood. Mr El Sisi, in office since 2014, was the defence minister at the time.

Turkish support for Islamist movements more widely, and general Turkish wariness of rulers brought to power by military takeovers, deepened the distrust between the two nations, and the two countries withdrew their respective ambassadors soon after.

Egypt’s concerns over the presence of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood exiles in Turkey were slightly alleviated after Ankara took measures to tone down their criticism of the government in Cairo.

Ankara’s wider Africa policy has also been a divisive issue. Turkey’s 2020 military intervention on the side of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya angered the Egyptian government, which supports Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, whose power base is in the east of the country. Cairo believes that the presence of foreign troops in the divided North African country undermines its national security, analysts said.

“Libya continues to be a sticking point, but less so now because there haven’t been massive shifts in the power dynamics, and the current situation is not an imminent threat for anybody,” Dareen Khalifa, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group think tank, told The National.

“Of course if you ask the Egyptians they are going to say that they want all foreign troops out [of Libya] … they are speaking about the Turks when they say they want foreign troops out, and that their presence in Libya is undermining the political process (in Libya) and their border concerns.”

Cairo has also taken umbrage at Ankara’s significant support for Ethiopia, especially in the construction of a major dam on the Nile, which Egypt says threatens its fresh water supply.

The meeting on Wednesday will also include discussion of regional issues, including the war in Gaza, the Turkish government communications directorate said. Egypt has been a key player in continuing efforts to broker a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, and Turkey has been widely critical of the military operations in Gaza that followed Hamas's October 7 attacks.

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Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan (vice captain), Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahaman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

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Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana

Rating: 2/5

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Asuka won the SmackDown Women's title in a TLC triple threat with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair

Dean Ambrose won the Intercontinental title against Seth Rollins

Daniel Bryan retained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against AJ Styles

Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women's Championship against Nia Jax

Rey Mysterio beat Randy Orton in a chairs match

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R-Truth and Carmella won the Mixed Match Challenge by beating Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox

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MATCH INFO

Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)

Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm

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Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

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Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

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Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
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Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule

1st Test July 26-30 in Galle

2nd Test August 3-7 in Colombo

3rd Test August 12-16 in Pallekele

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Started: 2018

Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov

Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality

Funding: $40 million

Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)

Six large-scale objects on show
  • Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
  • The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
  • A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
  • Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
  • A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
  • Torrijos Palace dome
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Bournemouth 1 (King 45 1')
Arsenal 2 (Lerma 30' og, Aubameyang 67')

Man of the Match: Sead Kolasinac (Arsenal)

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Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
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Dust storm

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  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

Updated: September 04, 2024, 9:00 PM`