Qatar's Egypt reconciliation embarrasses Erdogan
Doha’s moves to improve ties with Egypt deal a fresh blow to Erdogan’s seemingly futile efforts to isolate Sisi internationally.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attempts to see Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delegitimized and isolated internationally appear about to receive yet another blow as Qatar moves to normalize its ties with Cairo. It's Erdogan who appears more isolated internationally today than Sisi, who continues to gain international recognition while consolidating his power base at home.
The latest development in the Middle East represented by Qatar’s move also compounds what Erdogan’s recently appointed “shadow foreign minister” Ibrahim Kalin once referred to as “precious loneliness,” in an effort to bring an ethical and principled twist to Turkey’s increasing regional isolation.
Qatar is the only Arab country that Erdogan has visited in recent years and received high-level visitors from. These visits have also been used by Erdogan’s supporters to prove that the region is not as closed to him as critics are claiming.
Erdogan’s last visit to Doha was in September and followed July's visit to Turkey by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar. In an indication of the frequency of these high-level contacts between the two countries, Tamim was back in Ankara for official talks last week.
