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Ankara-Cairo relations in the changing Middle East
March 16, 2021It is time for everyone in the Middle East to make a new strategic assessment.
It is time for everyone in the Middle East to make a new strategic assessment. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced last Friday that Turkey had made “diplomatic contact” with Egypt.
That statement suggests that the ongoing talks between the Turkish and Egyptian intelligence services have led to a mutually agreeable strategy. If Turkey, which already has a maritime delimitation agreement with Libya, concludes a similar treaty with Egypt, Greece’s maximalist demands will be dead in the water.
Overall, Athens’ unreasonable demands have the potential to hurt the interests of Turkey, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Palestine.
Moreover, a fair allocation of Eastern Mediterranean resources would de-escalate tensions between Turkey and Greece, as well as Turkey and the European Union.
To be clear, resuming diplomacy is also good news for Egypt: Troubled by economic collapse and tensions over control of the Nile, Cairo needs a success story to tell at home.
A diplomatic reset
The pursuit of normalization with Egypt is a continuation of Ankara’s existing commitment to resetting its relationship with the United States and the EU. Repairing relations with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel, is also on the table.
All of these steps must be
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