NEWS CENTER – AKP Chair and President Tayyip Erdogan met with Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, whom he had previously targeted with "murderer" and "putschist" expressions.

 

AKP Chair and President Tayyip Erdoğan went to Egypt by private plane. Erdoğan was welcomed by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

 

This visit of Erdogan is the first high-level visit following the steps taken to put the relations between the two countries back on track after 2013.

 

With the influence of the Arab Spring, the 29-year rule of Hosni Mubarak ended in Egypt in February 2011. In the elections held afterwards, the Freedom and Justice Party, led by Mohammed Morsi, who was in line with the Muslim Brotherhood, came to power. Morsi was overthrown 8 months later by the coup carried out by then Chief of Defence Staff Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

 

Erdogan was the person who showed the harshest reaction to the coup. Erdogan targeted Sisi with expressions such as "murderer" and "putschist" at every opportunity. Erdogan said in support of Binali Yıldırım, in the 2019 local elections: "We have already set out on this path wearing our shrouds. On Sunday, we say Sisi or Binali Yıldırım.”

 

Over the years, the changes in global politics and the developments in the Middle East forced Erdogan to take a step back in his statements towards Sisi, whom he said he would "never meet" and in his policies towards Egypt.

 

Following the exploratory talks between the two countries that started in 2021, in June 2022, the then Minister of Treasury and Finance Nureddin Nabati went to Cairo to attend the annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank.

 

Following this visit, Erdogan and Sisi shook hands at the opening of the World Cup in Qatar at the end of 2022. Both names met and met on September 10, 2023, in New Delhi, the capital of India, where the 18th G20 Leaders Summit was held. Following this meeting, relations between the two countries were raised to the level of ambassadors last July.