Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of the World Cup in Qatar last week that he is keen to end the rupture between Türkiye and Egypt. Erdogan made the remarks in a recorded interview on Saturday that was reported on by Turkish and other media outlets, stating that he wanted to avoid a problem between the two countries in the Mediterranean. The Turkish president further said that the process of building bilateral relations with Egypt will start with ministerial-level talks, then meet with President al-Sisi, Bloomberg reported. Last week, the Egyptian and Turkish presidents were seen shaking hands with the Qatari emir in the background as they attended the opening game of the World Cup in Qatar in a sign of easing the tensions in in the relationship between the two countries. Erdogan said he spoke with President al-Sisi on the sidelines of the World Cup for 30-45 minutes under mediation from Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to end nine years of rupture in relations. "... just as Turkey's relations with Egypt have started to improve, this can also happen in our relationship with Syria." he added. "There is no place for a lasting rupture in politics," Erdogan stated: "that there were some who wanted to benefit from the break between Turkey and the Gulf countries in a certain period, but their plans failed when we ended this rupture." After Sisi's meeting with Erdogan in Qatar, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement that the two presidents agreed to start developing bilateral relations and affirmed the deep historical relations binding the two countries and their peoples. "It was agreed [during the meeting] that this would be the beginning of the development of bilateral relations between the two sides," the Egyptian presidency added. In 2021, Cairo and Ankara held two rounds of exploratory talks – headed by the Egyptian and Turkish deputy foreign ministers – to mend ties that were ruptured due to Ankara's support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt deems a terrorist organisation.
