Turkey, Egypt fully restore diplomatic ties after decade-long freeze
After years of diplomatic isolation, Ankara and Cairo have announced full normalization.
ANKARA — Turkey and Egypt announced on Tuesday the full normalization of relations, ending nearly a decade of diplomatic hostility.
In separate simultaneous statements, both countries said that they decided to reinstate their ambassadors mutually in their respective capitals, fully restoring ties at the highest diplomatic level. Turkey named Salih Mutlu Sen as its ambassador to Cairo and Egypt tapped Amr Elhamamy as its envoy to Ankara, according to the joint statements.
Speaking at a joint presser with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, Turkey's new Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey and Egypt were two powerful countries of the region and that they do not have the "luxury of staying apart" from each other. "We have now passed an important stage in the normalization efforts. From now on, our relations will continue to progress swiftly in political, economic and other fields," he said.
The two countries severed their diplomatic ties following the 2013 coup that ousted Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-led government of late President Mohamed Morsi. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emerged as one of the major international backers of the anti-coup demonstrator with his country turning to a safe haven for the exiled Brotherhood members.
