At a gathering in the province of Konya in the center of Turkey, Erdogan declared, “Harsh feelings have no place in politics.”
Erdogan stated that Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, his Egyptian counterpart, is “extremely happy” with their recent meeting in Qatar and that “we also transmitted the same wish.”
He added that the ministerial level of the normalization process with Egypt will “hopefully” continue.
“Recently, we had a situation that had been going on for nine years. That evening, mainly thanks to the emir of Qatar’s intervention, we took this action. After resolving that issue, we held a brief discussion with El-Sisi that lasted 30 to 45 minutes, according to Erdogan.
Erdogan described the two leaders’ meeting in Qatar as follows: “All we care about is ending the animosity between you (Egypt) and Türkiye, therefore let’s start the negotiations with our lower-level ministers and then expand and develop our conversations. In the Mediterranean, there shouldn’t be such a conflict between Egypt and Turkey.”
“A process will continue with our ministers now that it has started. We shouldn’t cede this power to others, he said, adding that the Mediterranean is a place where the connections between the Turkish and Egyptian populations are very different.
Erdogan claimed that certain people wanted to use Turkey’s complaints about the Gulf states for their own gain, adding that these schemes would fail if the problems were resolved.
We have excellent contacts with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It’s going to get even better,” he promised, noting that “this is definitely upsetting some circles.”
Erdogan and Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met last week in the capital of Qatar to coincide with the start of the 2022 World Cup. They shook hands and had a brief conversation.
Since Egypt’s 2013 military coup, which toppled the late President Mohammed Morsi, charges d’affaires on both sides have maintained diplomatic relations with Egypt.