Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo as relations heat following years of tensions.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi chief have known as for a halt to Israel’s looming offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza because the leaders held bilateral talks in Cairo.
Erdogan’s go to to Egypt on Wednesday comes as ties between Ankara and Cairo are again on monitor after years of tensions and frosty relations.
The Turkish chief arrived within the Egyptian capital, his first go to to Cairo in over a decade, after visiting the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, the place he met UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Erdogan met el-Sisi at Cairo’s Ittihadiya palace, in keeping with Egyptian state media. Their talks centered on bilateral relations and regional challenges, particularly efforts to cease the struggle in Gaza, el-Sisi later mentioned at a joint information convention.
“We agreed on the need for an immediate ceasefire [in Gaza] and the need to achieve calm in the West Bank” to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks with the last word purpose of building an unbiased Palestinian state, el-Sisi mentioned.
Erdogan mentioned Turkey was decided to step up talks with Egypt in any respect ranges to ascertain peace and stability within the area.
“We will continue to cooperate and stand in solidarity with our Egyptian brothers to put an end to the bloodshed in Gaza,” he mentioned.
Egypt and Turkey fell out after the Egyptian army in 2013 eliminated President Mohammed Morsi, who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood, amid mass protests towards his authorities.
Over the previous few years, Ankara deserted its criticism of el-Sisi’s authorities because it tried to restore frayed ties with Egypt and different regional powers. In November 2022, Erdogan and el-Sisi had been photographed shaking fingers through the World Cup in Qatar.
The struggle in Gaza has reached a essential level, with an impending Israeli offensive on town of Rafah, alongside the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt, the place some 1.4 million folks – greater than half the territory’s inhabitants – are crammed into tent camps and overflowing flats and shelters.
Talking on the information convention with el-Sisi, Erdogan urged Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep away from a floor offensive in Rafah and accused the Israeli authorities of committing “massacres” in Gaza.
“Efforts to depopulate Gaza are not acceptable,” he mentioned.
Egypt is anxious {that a} floor assault on Rafah would push lots of of 1000’s of displaced Palestinians throughout the border and into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. It has threatened to droop the nation’s decades-old peace treaty with Israel.
Egypt, along with Qatar and the US, a key Israel ally, has been working to try to dealer a ceasefire and the return of the remaining 130 captives held by Hamas, round 1 / 4 of whom Israel believes to be lifeless. The negotiators held talks in Cairo on Tuesday however there have been no indicators of a breakthrough.
Erdogan additionally mentioned that Turkey was able to cooperate with Egypt to rebuild Gaza, pledging to spice up commerce with Egypt to $15bn within the quick time period.
Israel launched its struggle on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas fighters carried out a shock assault on southern Israel, killing at the very least 1,139 folks and seizing round 250 others as hostages, in keeping with Israeli authorities.
Israel responded with a devastating bombardment and floor invasion of Gaza, killing greater than 28,500 folks, in keeping with Palestinian authorities. The Israeli assault has diminished a lot of the besieged territory to rubble and displaced greater than 80 % of the inhabitants, in keeping with help companies.