The content of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Turkey and Egypt, Messrs. Çavuşoğlu-Şükri meeting is not very encouraging, in terms of the expectations of the AK Party government. According to the news, Egypt put forward 3 conditions to normalize relations with Turkey;
The first condition is relatively easy for the AK Party to implement, but it means a lot politically; Egypt wants the extradition of all members of the Brotherhood/Muslim Brotherhood, who were tried in absentia by the courts and alleged to have been involved in the crime. This means that hundreds of people who fled and settled in Turkey after Morsi’s overthrow, and who had been supported by the AK Party government for years, were to be sent back to Cairo.
The second condition is much more difficult; Egypt wants all of Turkey’s soldiers, all of the Syrian mercenaries it has sent to fight there, “get the hell out of” Libya.
The third condition of Egypt, on the other hand, is a “message of loyalty” to the Greek Cypriot-Greek duo, with which it developed relations during the years of conflict with the AK Party government. El Sisi stipulates that in order to meet with Erdogan, Turkey must “solve” its problems with Greece and Cyprus. This condition also includes the very controversial maritime area sharing agreement that Turkey signed with Libya, to which the Greek Camp objects.
THE
RE IS NO HOPE FROM Assad AND SISI BEFORE THE ELECTION
Egypt did not lend support to the “world leader” image that the AK Party government wanted to project for Erdogan before May 14 elections. Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu himself explained; A possible Erdogan-Sisi meeting will only be held after the elections.
This is the second foreign policy blow to Erdogan in the past week; After Assad, El Sisi also announced to the public that they would not take part in the pageantry of the “world leader” image that Erdogan wanted to create in the election rallies.
What will happen after the election, of course, will be shaped by the result of the ballot box in Turkey…
Ms. Zeynep Gurcanli is a veteran foreign affairs columnist for Ekonomim.com
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