Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo amid warming relations after years of tensions.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for a halt to the imminent Israeli attack on Rafah in southern Gaza while the two leaders held bilateral talks in Cairo.
Erdogan's visit to Egypt on Wednesday comes as relations between Ankara and Cairo return to track after years of tension and frosty relations.
The Turkish leader arrived in the Egyptian capital, on his first visit to Cairo in more than a decade, after visiting the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, where he met with Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Erdogan met with Sisi at the Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, according to Egyptian official media. Sisi later said in a joint press conference that their talks focused on bilateral relations and regional challenges, especially efforts to stop the war in Gaza.
He added: “We agreed on the need for an immediate ceasefire [in Gaza] Sisi said that “it is necessary to achieve calm in the West Bank” in order to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, with the ultimate goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state.
Erdogan said that Turkey is determined to intensify talks with Egypt at all levels to bring peace and stability to the region.
He added: “We will continue cooperation and solidarity with our Egyptian brothers to put an end to the bloodshed in Gaza.”
Disagreements erupted between Egypt and Turkey after the Egyptian army in 2013 ousted President Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, amid mass protests against his government.
Over the past few years, Ankara has abandoned its criticism of Sisi's government while trying to mend tense relations with Egypt and other regional powers. In November 2022, Erdogan and Sisi were photographed shaking hands during the World Cup in Qatar.
The war in Gaza has reached a critical point, with an imminent Israeli attack on the city of Rafah, along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt, where some 1.4 million people – more than half of the Strip's population – live crammed into overcrowded camps and apartments. And shelters.
Speaking at the press conference with Sisi, Erdogan urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid a ground attack in Rafah and accused the Israeli government of committing “massacres” in Gaza.
He said, “Efforts to depopulate Gaza are unacceptable.”
Egypt is concerned that the ground attack on Rafah will push hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians across the border into the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. It threatened to suspend the peace treaty that the country concluded with Israel decades ago.
Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, Israel's main ally, is working to try to broker a ceasefire and return the remaining 130 prisoners held by Hamas, nearly a quarter of whom Israel believes are dead. Negotiators held talks in Cairo on Tuesday, but there were no signs of a breakthrough.
Erdogan also said that Turkey is ready to cooperate with Egypt to rebuild Gaza, pledging to boost trade with Egypt to $15 billion in the short term.
Israel launched its war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas militants carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing at least 1,139 people and taking about 250 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel responded with a devastating bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, killing more than 28,500 people, according to Palestinian authorities. The Israeli attack has turned a large part of the besieged territory into rubble and displaced more than 80% of the population, according to relief agencies.
“Infuriatingly humble analyst. Bacon maven. Proud food specialist. Certified reader. Avid writer. Zombie advocate. Incurable problem solver.”