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Erdogan: Turkey ready to work with Egypt for the reconstruction of Gaza

2024-02-14 20:03:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Wednesday that Turkey is ready for cooperation with Egypt to rebuild the Gaza Strip.

He made these comments during his first visit to Egypt since 2012.

Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, spoke at a joint conference in Cairo after bilateral talks, taking a major step towards rebuilding relations between the two regional powers.

Erdogan said that the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza was at the top of the agenda of the talks between them.

"We will continue to cooperate with our Egyptian brothers to end the bloodshed in Gaza," Erdogan said, adding that Turkey is determined to increase talks with Egypt at all levels in order to decide peace and stability in the region.

Erdogan has also pledged to increase trade with Egypt to $15 billion in the short term, underscoring that the two countries are exploring energy and defense cooperation.

"I would like to underline the continuous connection between our peoples over the past 10 years, while our trade and investment relationship has seen steady growth," Sisi said.

Relations between Ankara and Cairo soured in 2013 after Sisi, then army chief, led the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, a Turkish ally who had become Egypt's first democratically elected president in a year earlier.

But last year, the two countries agreed on the appointment of ambassadors, and this month Turkey said it would provide Egypt with combat drones.

Erdogan has sought to ease tensions with Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel since 2021, but since last October he has publicly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's devastating war against Hamas in The Gaza Strip.

Egypt, Israel, Qatar and the United States held inconclusive talks on Tuesday in search of a Gaza ceasefire deal.

Cairo has made it clear that it will not allow the exodus of Palestinians from Gaza into Egyptian soil.

Morsi died in prison in Egypt in 2019. Other senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood are either in prison in Egypt or have fled the country, including to Turkey.

The Muslim Brotherhood continues to be illegal in Egypt./ REL