Egypt’s Sissi heads for Turkey in first presidential visit in 12 years, with Gaza also on agenda

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi will hold talks with President Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey today in the first presidential-level visit in 12 years amid a warming of long-frozen relations between the regional powers.

The visit comes after Erdogan traveled to Cairo in February, his first trip to Egypt since 2012, taking a major step toward rebuilding ties that were severely strained for a decade.

“Turkey-Egypt relations will be reviewed in all their aspects and possible joint steps in the coming period to further develop cooperation will be discussed,” the Turkish presidency’s communications office says in a statement.

“In addition to bilateral relations, there will be an exchange of views on current regional and global issues, especially the Israeli attacks on Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories,” it adds.

Relations between Ankara and Cairo collapsed in 2013 after Egypt’s then-army chief Sissi led the ouster of the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, an ally of Turkey who had become Egypt’s first democratically elected president the year before.