Why Egypt will not approach Turkey and how should Greece take advantage of this?

It is reasonable that the geopolitically and energetically upgraded Egypt, with a strong Armed Forces, has no reason to believe Erdogan’s big words without actions, keeping Turkey on the sidelines

“The rapprochement between Egypt and Turkey is weakening”, is the title of a Spanish media article whose main points are as follows:

“The Turkish country is trying to establish itself as an ‘ally’ country in the region

Approaches between Turkey and Egypt remain on a tightrope, despite the fact that both have begun to take the first steps to agree to diplomatic cooperation. While Turkey continues to openly praise Egypt’s role in the region, the Arab country does not show the same enthusiasm in dealing with Turkey.

For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, talks between Egypt and Turkey continue “at their lowest point”, despite the fact that for Erdogan “there is no obstacle that prevents mutual understanding”.

In this regard, Erdogan complains that he does not see on the part of Egypt the same “willingness and enthusiasm” to continue to bring the positions of the 2 countries closer together, which worsens his efforts to try to get out of the particular isolation and to start building relations with the countries of the region, with special attention to those countries belonging to the MENA region. (Middle East-North Africa)

Along these lines, Turkey’s plans to get closer to Egypt would also stem from Erdogan’s efforts to gain advantages in the Eastern Mediterranean, which also made him get closer to countries like Libya

And it is that, for now, for Egypt, these statements of Erdogan are not enough to consolidate understanding.

Islamism, Turkey’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the constant suspicions and accusations that Turkey is using mercenary jihadists in wars like the one in Syria, are factors that do not convince Egypt and its President, Abdel . Fatah al-Sisi.

See also  Presence of the Minister of Defense Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos at the swearing-in ceremony of new Lieutenants in the SSE under the PTD

Despite Turkey and Egypt holding a historic meeting in September 2021 after nearly a decade of estrangement over differing positions on the Muslim Brotherhood, relations continue to experience difficult times.

In the beginning it was Egypt that reached Turkey to end Islamic influence. In this sense, an open cooperation between Turkey and Egypt is a serious blow to the Brotherhood, since Turkey has been used as their main refuge.

However, in relations between Cairo and Ankara, al-Sisi is wary of reaching an understanding with Turkey because of the ties the latter is building with Islamists in Egypt.

In this sense, Egypt requested the extradition of 10,000 members of the Islamist organization who are in Turkey, which has not yet taken place.

Turkish diplomacy, also present in Ukraine

Ukraine closes five months of war. Throughout this time, Europe, along with the United States and countries in the Middle East, have been the protagonists, in record time, in a race to reach agreements that consolidate their power and influence in the various regions.

Europe and the United States joined forces to denounce the Russian invasion, while they did not stop sending weapons and financial aid to the Ukrainian country, other countries, such as Turkey, are trying to play a mediating role between Russia and Ukraine and give a international image of a “trustworthy country”.

In the case of Turkey, the Ottoman country continues to play between the two sides. On the one hand, he condemned the Russian actions in Ukraine from the beginning, but, at the same time, he refused to participate in the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West, even as a member of NATO.

The weight of the Black Sea, as well as Turkey’s geostrategic position together with its trade ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, in addition to its common interests with Russia in countries such as Syria, are key evidence for trying to understand Turkey’s role as a diplomatic agent.

See also  Dramatic Kurdish warning: Possible Turkish operation "will include all of Syria"

With this strategy, diplomatically similar to what other countries such as China would do, Turkey is trying to make its way to satisfy the ambitions of its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is trying to make Turkey a regional power, despite the inner crises he goes through.

Thus, Turkey wants to claim benefits with its presence without placing itself reliably on either side. This situation has led Ukraine and Russia to agree to hold meetings with Turkey in order to learn about each other’s interests, although nothing has been formally agreed, except for the opening of sea routes for the export of Ukraine’s grain.”

Findings – Conclusions

Muslim Brotherhood and Libya, until recently the main points of rivalry between Egypt and Turkey

The signing of even a partial demarcation of the Egypt-Greece EEZ, as well as the signing of an electrical interconnection agreement between the two countries via a submarine cable in the Libyan Sea, had the effect of cutting off Turkey from the Libyan EEZ, as it was demarcated by the illegal Turkish-Libyan Satatz Memorandum – Erdogan

In the present phase, Egypt has connected energy with Israel, exporting the natural gas of the two countries to the EU, which further strengthens the geopolitical-energy importance of Cairo for the old Epirus after the attempt to wean it off from Russian natural gas gas

It is therefore reasonable that the geopolitically and energetically upgraded Egypt, possessing a strong Armed Forces, has no reason to believe Erdogan’s big words without actions, keeping Turkey on the sidelines

Greece should further deepen its cooperation with Egypt both on a military and economic level, as we have analyzed extensively in our previous article entitled, “Urgent! Why the immediate construction of an undersea natural gas pipeline with Egypt;”

Related Posts