Erdoğan shakes hands with Egypt's Sisi after long rift

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shook hands with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Turkey and Egypt have been at odds in recent years over their conflicting positions on the Muslim Brotherhood, the war in Libya, and maritime borders in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Sunday November 20 2022 09:10 pm

Reuters

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shook hands with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the sidelines of the World Cup in Qatar on Nov. 20, a photo from Turkey's presidency showed.

Turkey's state-owned Anadolu Agency said Erdoğan briefly met, shook hands and talked to Sisi and other leaders, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan.

There was no immediate comment from Egypt's presidency.

Ankara's ties with Cairo have been strained since Sisi, then Egypt's army chief, led the 2013 ouster of Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was strongly supported by Erdoğan.

The two countries started consultations between senior foreign ministry officials last year amid a push by Turkey to ease tensions with Egypt, the UAE, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Egyptian officials had expressed caution over any rapprochement, although Erdoğan said in July there was no reason high-level talks should not take place.

Despite the political frictions, Ankara says Cairo remains its biggest African trade partner, with the value of trade standing at $4.86 billion last year, only marginally down from 2012, the year before Turkey's ally Mohamed Mursi was toppled.