Egypt – Turkey: Unreliable Erdogan makes the rapprochement falter
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Alaina
- . June 19, 2021
- . Update: June 19, 2021 4:25 pm
The rapprochement attempt launched a few months ago between Egypt and Turkey is faltering and is on the verge of failure due to the unreliability of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Diplomatic sources in Cairo confirmed that Egypt has postponed new meetings with the Turkish counterpart due to the failure to implement the Egyptian conditions and requests for a resumption of bilateral relations.
Among these conditions, Cairo insists on the extradition of some wanted people from Turkey, but if Ankara had initially accepted, today it would be refusing to keep faith with the agreements. As always. While not specifying which wanted people they are, it is believed that the cause of this stalemate in negotiations is linked to the request for the delivery of some representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood, the international terrorist organization, who have been sheltered in Istanbul for years. The postponement was decided, however, when the subject of the agreement for the demarcation of the maritime borders between Egypt, Turkey, and Libya in the eastern Mediterranean was touched upon.
Another point of contention, irremediable, always concerns neighboring Libya. Turkey rejects Egyptian demands to reduce the number of Turkish forces in western Libya. From Cairo, they say that Egyptian diplomats have linked the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Libya to the resumption of security meetings with Ankara. Cairo requires written commitments from the Turks to respect Libya’s sovereignty.
It is no coincidence that on Thursday, June 17, the head of the Egyptian secret services, General Abbas Kamel, visited Libya, first going to Tripoli and then to Benghazi. During the meeting in Tripoli with Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dabaiba, Kamel would have received the invitation to be given to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to visit Tripoli as soon as possible. A few hours later Kamel went to Rajma, just outside Benghazi, where he was received by General Khalifa Haftar.
Last week, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) announced that the relationship between Turkey and Egypt is underway, explaining that “the intelligence and foreign affairs of the two countries are in constant contact”. The party said it would focus on concrete issues during mutual talks with Egypt and called for the need to discuss the future of Libya and the eastern Mediterranean issue with Cairo.
Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his hopes of maximizing cooperation with Egypt and the Gulf states, noting that his country has the opportunity to engage in serious cooperation with Egypt. Egypt in a large area from the eastern Mediterranean to Libya. However, Erdogan’s adviser, Yassin Aktay, continues to make critical statements towards Cairo.
The latest came after in recent days the Egyptian Court of Cassation, the highest instance of the judiciary in Cairo, confirmed the death sentences of 12 people, including some senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood, following a trial that had seen 739 people accused of participating in an anti-government sit-in in Rabaa Al-Adawiya, Cairo, in July and August 2013.
Moreover, despite the attempts of courtship between the diplomats of the two countries, the representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood Egyptians sheltered in Istanbul are trying to hinder the full normalization of relations between the two countries in every way, including through their satellite channels, which continue to destabilize the internal policies of the Arab countries and consequently, the entire region.
