Turkey and Egypt look for new partnerships in El Sisi's first visit to Ankara

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Ankara on Wednesday for their second round of talks in the past six months, five years after swearing that he would “never” meet Mr El Sisi.

“I would first like to express my pleasure in hosting the President of Egypt, Mr Abdel Fattah El Sisi, in our country,” said Mr Erdogan in a joint press conference with the Egyptian President on Wednesday evening, his tone reflecting the change in Egypt-Turkey relations.

The half-day visit was Mr El Sisi’s first trip to Turkey as President, as Cairo and Ankara continue to repair diplomatic ties bruised by more than a decade of political and ideological disputes.

The two leaders held one-on-one talks at the presidential complex in Ankara before chairing the first meeting of the Turkey-Egypt strategic co-operation council, a body that was restructured following Mr Erdogan's Cairo trip earlier this year.

“I underline that after my first visit to Turkey, we are establishing a new phase of co-operation between the two countries,” Mr El Sisi said. Ministers from the two countries signed about 20 preliminary, non-binding agreements in fields including energy, defence, agriculture, tourism, environment and climate change, and construction.

A 36-point joint declaration published after the meeting pledged closer collaboration on issues from health and education to counter terrorism and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Commerce and investment were among the most important agenda items during the visit, the leaders said at the joint press conference.

“Our discussions took into account the importance of facilitating transport and enhancing free trade between the two countries to increase commercial exchange to $15 billion in the coming years, in addition to enhancing investment between two countries and granting facilitations for Turkish businessmen,” said Mr El Sisi.

Despite the diplomatic hostility, trade between the two countries has risen steadily in the past decade. Turkey has been seeking to expand foreign trade as its domestic economy suffered, with growth sluggish and inflation currently running at more than 50 per cent.

Turkey-Egypt trade topped $4.9 billion in the first seven months of 2024, according to The National’s calculations, based on Turkish Statistical Institute data.

Items traditionally traded include plastics, electronics and minerals, and Turkey is also looking for new markets for its military hardware, including drones, which are used in African countries from Mali to Ethiopia.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said earlier this year that Ankara was willing to provide Egypt with its military drones, which are already owned by governments including Ethiopia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. It is unclear if any drone sales contracts were concluded on Wednesday.

Relations soured between the two countries in 2013, after the military overthrow of former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, who Mr Erdogan supported. The two countries downgraded diplomatic ties and relations deteriorated.

Egypt was angered by Turkey providing refuge to exiled Muslim Brotherhood members, and the two countries supported opposing sides in the Libyan conflict. Egypt has taken umbrage at Turkey’s significant backing of Ethiopia, especially in the construction of a major dam project on the Nile which threatens Egypts water supply.

But in recent months the two governments have taken steps to improve ties, spurred on by the need to find sources of stability and build political and economic alliances in a region facing multiple protracted crises.

“After a 12-year hiatus, no significant tensions are expected to emerge at this stage of normalisation and developing relations,” Tunc Demirtas, a foreign policy researcher at pro-Turkish government think tank Seta, told The National. “Given the many regional challenges, it is likely that Turkey and Egypt will act rationally on points where their interests align across various issues.”

Some analysts say that the two countries’ similar positions on the war in Gaza have accelerated the normalisation.

“Rapprochement between them was accelerated after the war in Gaza,” said Elem Eyrice Tepeciklioglu, an associate professor at the Department of African Studies at the Social Sciences University of Ankara. “They all want to end the war. They all want an independent Palestinian state. They all want to perhaps be the mediator or accelerate the peace process, because Turkey would like to play the role of a mediator in different contexts. And Egypt is directly involved.”

The normalisation with Egypt is part of wider attempts by Turkey to repair relationships with countries with which Ankara has not always seen eye to eye.

“We have realised that we have similar targets and similar stances pertaining to many regional matters, and we have come to terms with Egypt to boost our correspondences,” Mr Erdogan said in the press conference with Mr El Sisi. “Hopefully from now on, we will be in closer co-operation with Egypt … Hopefully we will boost our bilateral relations.”

The exact contours of future co-operation and agreements remain unclear.

“When you ask the Turks, they say, like the rapprochement process is going great. When you ask the Egyptians, they are less enthusiastic, but they say, it's going – it's better than it was before, but there's still some sticking points,” said Dareen Khalifa, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group think tank. “So there is a gap between how both countries see the positive steps taken so far.”

In Libya, Egypt supports Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar in the country’s east, and Turkey intervened on the side of the UN-recognised government in Tripoli in 2020. Egypt has consistently said it wants foreign troops – including Turkish troops posted in the North African country – to leave, although Turkey has made no commitment to that effect.

“We agreed to increase consultations to achieve security and political stability in Libya,” said Mr El Sisi. “We assure the end of the crisis in Libya by holding the legitimate parliamentary elections and ending the presence of armed militias and foreign forces in Libya – then divisions will come to an end and stability will be established.”

But ultimately, a resolution would allow both to invest in the country and minimise the national security concerns it presents, analysts said.

“The stability, both economic and political stability, in Libya, is in the interest of both countries,” said Ms Eyrice Tepeciklioglu.

Mr El Sisi also said he welcomed recent moves by Mr Erdogan to repair ties with the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria. The Turkish leader said in July that he would be willing to invite Mr Al Assad to Turkey, following a severing of diplomatic ties in 2012 over the Syrian civil war. Last month Mr Al Assad said that there had been no concrete progress in normalising relations with its neighbour.