Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

are bound by strong religious, cultural and historical ties, but diplomatic ties between the two have remained extremely friendly at times and extremely strained at others. For three centuries, Egypt was part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, whose capital was

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

in modern-day Turkey, despite governor of Egypt,

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...

, waged

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

against the Ottoman sultan,

Mahmud II Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...

, in 1831. Turkey established diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1925 at the level of Charge d’ Affaires and upgraded its mission in Cairo to Ambassadorial level in 1948. Both countries have embassies and consulate generals in the other's capitals. Both countries have signed a free trade agreement in December 2005. Both countries are full members of the

Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; french: Union pour la Méditerranée, ar, الإتحاد من أجل المتوسط ''Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ'') is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the M ...

. A natural gas deal between Egypt and Turkey—the largest joint Egyptian-Turkish project to date, estimated to cost $4 billion—is being implemented. On 16 April 2008, Egypt and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to improve and further military relations and cooperation between the two countries. Relations however have been quite tense on many occasions in history of both countries including the Nasser era in Egypt in the 1950s and 60s. It has also strongly deteriorated in the period following the overthrow of the Egyptian president

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012anti-government protests that took place between 30 June and 3 July that year. On 23 November 2013, the Egyptian government expelled the Turkish ambassador in Cairo after a months-long diplomatic crisis. In 2021, both countries are having talks of normalizing ties.

Diplomatic relations

Relations under Gamal Abdel Nasser

In the midst of the Cold War and during the rule of Egyptian President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-r ...

, relations between both countries have soured dramatically due to Turkey's membership in the British-led

Baghdad Pact The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), also known as the Baghdad Pact and subsequently known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turk ...

, which Nasser viewed as a major threat to his efforts to eliminate Western presence in the Arab world, and because of the growing influence of Nasser's Pan-Arab ideology, called

Nasserism Nasserism ( ) is an Arab nationalist and Arab socialist political ideology based on the thinking of Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the two principal leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and Egypt's second President. Spanning the domestic ...

. In addition, Turkey was the first Muslim majority country to recognize the State of Israel, Egypt's archrival at the time, showing even more its clear alignment to the West. In 1958, Egypt entered a brief union with Syria, Turkey's southern neighbor with whom it shared longtime diplomatic and border disputes, causing severe tensions between the two countries with Turkey responding by its engagement in a secret "peripheral alliance" with Israel. The tensions reached their peak in 1957 prior to the unification with Syria when Nasser, fearful of a Baghdad Pact toppling of the Syrian government, sent a contingent force to assist Syrian forces that was dispatched near the Syrian-Turkish border as a response to a Turkish threat of incursion when a huge number of troops amassed along the border. This near-confrontation between Egyptian and Turkish troops marked a dark spot in both countries' relations and eventually led to both sides withdrawing, ending the possible escalation of the crisis.

Relations under post-2011 Egyptian revolution

Turkish Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 t ...

made his first three days official visit to

on 12 September 2011, and was accompanied by six ministers and approximately 200 businessmen. This visit was considered a diplomatic success and was met with much enthusiasm by Egyptians. CNN reported some Egyptians saying "We consider him as the Islamic leader in the Middle East", while others were appreciative of his role in supporting Gaza. Erdogan was later honored in

Tahrir Square Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations in Ca ...

by members of the Egyptian Revolution Youth Union, and members of the Turkish embassy were presented with a coat of arms in acknowledgment of the Prime Minister's support of the

Egyptian Revolution of 2011 The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

. A week after he left, Turkish Foreign Minister,

Ahmet Davutoğlu Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) from 2014 to 2016. He previously served as Mi ...

proclaimed his vision of a strategic alliance between Egypt and Turkey which he described as an "Axis of Democracy". However, some voiced concerns that the Egyptian revolution was not fulfilled and that Erdogan was seeking his own country's strategic interests. It was feared that by forming an alliance with the SCAF interim government in Egypt during the country's transition to democracy, Erdogan may have tipped the balance in favor of those that stand between the Egyptians and their freedom.

Relations following the removal of Mohamed Morsi from office

Following the anti-government protests in the middle of 2013 that led to the overthrow of Egyptian

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012Justice and Development Party (AKP), signs of strained relations rose between the newly appointed interim government of Egypt and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

in Turkey, mainly due to Erdoğan's pro-Brotherhood views, culminating with the August 2013 sit-in raids in Rabaa and Nahda by security forces, where sit-ins organized by the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassa ...

were dispersed, leading to clashes that resulted in 638 deaths, of which 43 were police officers. The incident resulted in both countries recalling their respective ambassadors and was met with several verbal assaults by Erdoğan, who described the event as "anti-democratic" and referred to it as a "massacre," while suggesting that Egypt's leaders should be put under a "fair and transparent trial." This was followed by a suspension of military exercises involving the two countries. Erdoğan also accused the Egyptian military of conspiring with

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

to topple Morsi's government at an expanded meeting of the provincial chairs of his ruling AKP and claimed to possess "proof" for that: "This is what has been implemented in Egypt. Who is behind this? Israel. We have evidence". The claim was rejected by the Egyptian interim government, describing it as "baseless" and intended to "strike at the unity of Egyptians," with presidential spokesperson Ahmed Muslimani saying that "agents of the West should not give lessons in patriotism". In response to Erdoğan's statements, Egypt's interim president,

Adly Mansour Adly Mahmoud Mansour ( ar, عدلى محمود منصور ; born 23 December 1945) is an Egyptian judge and politician who served as the president (or chief justice) of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt. He also served as interim ...

announced on his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account on 17 August that Egypt would to sign the international document recognizing the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

: In addition, dozens of Egyptian articles have been published condemning Turkey's denial of the Armenian genocide and urging the country's new leaders to recognize it. There have also been calls to erect a memorial monument commemorating the victims of the genocide in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

. On 23 November 2013, the Egyptian government expelled the Turkish ambassador to the country, Huseyin Avni Botsali, and recalled their ambassador from

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, mak ...

indefinitely after several months of tensions with Turkey's ruling AKP-led government. In response, Turkey also barred the Egyptian ambassador, who was out of the country at the time, and declared him a ''

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution. Diplomacy Under Article 9 of the ...

''. The declaration came a day after Turkish PM

repeated his criticism of Egypt's interim government and his call for the urgent release of former Egyptian President

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 t ...

slammed Egypt's President

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mil ...

as an "illegitimate tyrant", saying that Egypt could not be relied upon to negotiate a truce with Israel during

Operation Protective Edge The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge ( he, מִבְצָע צוּק אֵיתָן, translit=Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan, ), was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territories, Pale ...

. "Is Sisi a party (to a ceasefire)? Sisi is a tyrant himself," Erdogan told reporters. "He is not different from the others," he said, adding that it was Egypt's current rulers who were blocking humanitarian aid channels to the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza. ...

ruled by the

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

Islamist militant group. Egypt's Foreign Minister

Sameh Shoukry Sameh Hassan Shoukry ( ar, سامح شكري; born 20 October 1952) is an Egyptian diplomat who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt since 2014. Previously, Shoukry served as the Ambassador of Egypt to the United States from 2008 to ...

said Erdogan's comments were "unacceptable". Due to Turkey's interference in Egypt's domestic affairs. The Egyptian foreign ministry also canceled joint naval drills with Turkey. In September 2014, Egypt's foreign minister cancelled a meeting with Turkish president Erdoğan requested by Turkey after Erdoğan made a speech critical of Egypt in the UN General Assembly. An advisor to the Turkish president has denied that the countries' leaders were planning to meet. However, later Egypt's foreign ministry handed out a scanned document of Turkey's meeting proposal to the media and was published by Egypt's Youm7 newspaper. Sisi's administration also decided to cancel the "Ro-Ro" agreement with Turkey, blocking Turkey from transporting Turkish containers to the Gulf via Egyptian ports. An intense campaign started by Egypt and Saudi Arabia against Turkey made it lose its predicted easy victory of membership in the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...

. Following the

2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt On 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces, organized as the Peace at Home Council, attempted a coup d'état against state institutions, including the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They attempted to seize contr ...

, President

gave an interview with

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazee ...

explaining that "President al-Sisi has nothing to do with democracy, and that he’s killed thousands of his own people." The remarks were condemned by Egypt's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid saying that the Turkish president "keeps confusing matter and is losing the ability to make sound judgments" and that this reflects "the difficult circumstances the Turkish president has been through. "He cannot differentiate between an evident revolution where more than 30 million Egyptians demanded the support of the Egyptian military and between military coups as we know them," the statement explained. On 22 November 2017, Egypt's public prosecutor has ordered the detention of 29 people suspected of espionage on behalf of Turkey against Egypt national interest and joining a terrorist organization. They are also accused of money laundering, conducting overseas calls without a license and trading currency without a license. According to the results of an investigation by the General Intelligence Services, the group has been recording phone calls and passing information to Turkish intelligence as part of a plan to bring the

back to power in Egypt. Following the executions of 9 people convicted of killing

Hisham Barakat Hisham Muhammad Zaki Barakat ( ''Hišām Muḥammad Zakī Barakāt''; 21 November 1950 – 29 June 2015) was Prosecutor General of Egypt from 2013 to 2015. During his term as state prosecutor, he was responsible for thousands of controversial pro ...

in February 2019, President Erdogan sharply criticized President al-Sisi, saying he refused to talk to "someone like him." In June 2019, former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi died during a court hearing. Erdogan blamed the Egyptian leadership for Morsi's death and called him a martyr.

Proposal to recognize the
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

Due to the ongoing deterioration of relations between Egypt and Turkey, the Government of Egypt led by el-Sisi, has been receiving proposals to recognize the Armenian Genocide, a sensitive subject that Turkey has denounced more than once. Filmmaker Mohamed Hanafi had produced a movie, "Who Killed the Armenians?", in response to the ongoing tensions between Turkey and Egypt, as an act of Egyptian solidarity to Armenia. In February 2019,

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mi ...

announced it had implicitly recognized the Armenian Genocide, further deteriorating the relationship between Turkey and Egypt.

Proposal to grant asylum to
Fethullah Gülen Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (born 27 April 1941) is a Turkish Islamic religious scholar, scholar, preacher, and a one-time opinion leader, as de facto leader of the Gülen movement. Gülen is designated an influential Neo-Ottomanism, neo-Ottoman ...

MP Emad Mahrous called on the Egyptian government to grant asylum to Gülen. In the request, sent to Speaker of the House of Representatives

Ali Abdel Aal Ali Abdel Aal Sayyed Ahmed ( ar, علي عبد العال; born 29 November 1948) is an Egyptian law professor and politician. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives between 10 January 2016 and 12 January 2021. As law professor he worked a ...

, Prime Minister

Sherif Ismail Sherif Ismail ( ar, شريف إسماعيل ; born 6 July 1955) is an Egyptian engineer who served as Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister between 2015 and 2018. He was Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (Egypt), minister of pet ...

and Foreign Minister

on 24 July 2016, Mahrous notes that " urkeywas a moderate Muslim country that has become an Islamist dictatorship at the hands of urkish presidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan and his affiliated

political party", arguing that it was "highly distasteful" that Erdoğan has requested Gülen's extradition from the United States while at the same time "... giving shelter to hundreds of leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organisation and members of other bloody militant Islamist groups which attack Egypt by day and night". Mahrous argues that not only has Erdoğan accused Gülen of plotting the failed coup, Erdoğan has also used this allegation as an excuse to engage in mass purges against public institutions allegedly loyal to Gülen. "(Simultaneously), Erdogan has decided to turn Turkey-Egypt relations into a media battleground, with Turkish intelligence providing funds for several Muslim Brotherhood TV channels that target Egypt". Mahrous stated that his advice to Gülen is to not wait until his extradition, but instead leave the US and obtain permanent asylum in Egypt. Former Egyptian President

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

granted asylum to Shah

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ( fa, محمدرضا پهلوی, ; 26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980), also known as Mohammad Reza Shah (), was the last ''Shah'' (King) of the Imperial State of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow in the Irani ...

after arriving the Egypt from the US, regardless of all the threats that were issued by Iran's ayatollahs during the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

Relations in early 2020s

In early 2020, the Egyptian military practices military drills in the Middle East as a show of force to Turkey according to Xinhuanet News. "It's he military exercisesa message to the Turkish side to realize the capabilities of Egyptian army on battle ground," said Tariq Fahmy, a professor of international relations at Cairo University. In addition, the Egyptian naval forces conducted a large-scale amphibious exercise in the Mediterranean Sea amidst escalating tensions in the region after Turkey's parliament agreed to send military troops to Libya aimed at shoring up the UN-recognized government in Tripoli. Egypt's naval forces conducted activities in the Mediterranean Sea aimed at imposing maritime control on the country's economic zone and securing vital targets in deep water, according to a statement by the armed forces. In March 2021, Turkey claimed said that they have resumed their diplomatic contacts with Egypt (at the level of intelligence and foreign ministries) after breaking off relations since 2013. However, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry denied these claims by the Turkish Government that there has been a restoration of ties. In the meantime, Turkey had ordered Muslim Brotherhood affiliated TV channels to halt criticisms against Egypt.

Diplomacy

;Arab Republic of Egypt *

(Embassy) *

(Consulate-General) ;Republic of Turkey *

(Embassy) *

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

(Consulate-General)

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

News Analysis: Egypt's army maneuvers in Mediterranean "message" to Turkey: experts - Xinhua , English.news.cn

Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Egypt

Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Turkey

New Era in the Egyptian – Turkish Relations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Egypt-Turkey relations Relations of colonizer and former colony