Egyptian President el-Sisi’s visit to Türkiye is the last example of Ankara’s sharp u-turns in foreign policy but definitely not the last one. The president is in Türkiye after 12 years as the two leaders reconciled in 2022 by Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim in Egypt.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s visit to Türkiye is significant in terms of Türkiye re-establishing relations with Arab administrations, with which it had almost severed ties during the Arab Spring. It is also the latest example of sharp turns in ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) foreign policy.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who hosted Sisi today, visited Sisi in Cairo last February. He had been calling him “coup plotter” and “murderer” until the Emir of Qatar reconciled them in 2022. Cutting ties with Egypt out of anger towards Sisi was a mistake and cost Türkiye.
Previously, in 2018, Erdoğan had visited Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom he had accused of ordering the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, and then bin Salman visited Türkiye.
Similarly, he reconciled with United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed, whom he had accused of supporting the Fethullahist coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
It’s no coincidence that these sharp maneuvers occurred in 2022 when Erdogan admitted that his “heterodox” economic policy, summarized as “Let’s lower the interest rate, inflation will fall,” had run aground.
Sisi is the latest example of these maneuvers, but he won’t be the last. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is next in line.
We had learned weeks ago from Cairo sources that the Egyptian President would come to Türkiye on September 4. Thankfully, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t leave the media in the dark with information notes on Türkiye-Egypt relations, but the Presidential Communications Directorate’s confirmation was dated September 3.
We’re also learning from Moscow sources that a quadrilateral meeting might be held with Syria, perhaps with Iran’s participation. When asked, Foreign Ministry sources say that Russia’s reconciliation efforts are “positively” received in Ankara.
We’ll get to the likely agreement ground with Syria in a moment, but let’s continue with this issue of getting news that concerns us from others.
For example, we had learned from Washington sources about........