Egypt's Sisi, Turkey's Erdogan agree on reinstating ambassadors

Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on "the immediate start of upgrading diplomatic relations, exchanging ambassadors," Egypt's presidency said in a statement on Monday.

الرئيس عبد الفتاح السيسي يجري اتصالًا هاتفيًا مع الرئيس التركيhttps://t.co/UAmExjcSQC#السيد_الرئيس_عبدالفتاح_السيسي#الجمهورية_الجديدة#موقع_الرئاسة

— رئاسة جمهورية مصر العربية (@EGPresidency_AR) May 29, 2023

Sisi spoke with Erdogan in a phone call to congratulate him on his presidential win.

Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry visited Turkey in April and met his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, the two parties agreed then on specific time frame to raise the level of diplomatic relations and to prepare for a summit between the two presidents.

The presidents may meet in person again after Turkey's May 14 election, Cavusoglu said in April.

Ties between Turkey and Egypt were severely strained after Egypt's then-army chief Sisi led the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, an ally of Ankara, in 2013. Sisi was elected president the following year, and Morsi died in prison in Egypt in 2019.

The two countries have also been at odds in recent years over Libya, where they backed opposing factions in an unresolved conflict, and also over maritime borders in the gas-rich Eastern Mediterranean.

(Reuters)