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ANKARA Egyptian-Turkish relations continued their positive turn on Wednesday whenTurkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a first visit to Cairo since 2012, praising his once nemesis Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and calling him esteemed brother.

The mood was clear in the optics and the agenda of the visit. Sisi welcomed the Turkish leader at a Cairo airport, departing from traditional diplomatic protocol.

A red-carpet welcome reception and ceremony at Al-Ittihadiya Palace followed.

At the press conference later, Erdogan hailed the new chapter.

I believe that this visit will be a new turning point in our relations, Erdogan said at the joint presser, flanked by Sisi.

The Egyptian leader echoed the message. We can open a new page together between our countries in a way that enriches our bilateral relations and puts them on the right track, Sisi said.

The two countries inked several cooperation deals including in tourism, culture and education on the sidelines of the summit. The two capitals fully restored their diplomatic ties by appointing mutual ambassadors in July after a decade-long hiatus.

Reiterating the countries previously set goal to raise their bilateral trade volume, which currently stands at $10 billion, to $15 as soon as possible, Erdogan went on, Trade and economy have been the locomotive of our cooperation.

Adding that the two countries shared serious potential in thedefense industry, the Turkish leader said, I believe that we will develop joint projects with Egypt through our cooperation in this field. He did not elaborate further.

Earlier this month, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who joined Erdogan during the trip along with Defense Minister Yasar Guler and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, announced that his country would soon begin drone exports to Egypt.

Sisi said the two countries would also seek to enhance joint investments and open new areas of cooperation.

The two leaders also reached an agreement to elevate the strategic cooperation council mechanism between the two countries, Erdogan said.

I told my esteemed brother that I was waiting to see him in Ankara at the earliest opportunity to hold our council meeting.

United front on Gaza

Presenting a united front over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, both leaders reiterated calls for an immediate cease-fire.

The humanitarian tragedy in the Palestinian territories topped our agenda. ... Our priority is to achieve a cease-fire as soon as possible and to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza without any obstacles, Erdogan said.

Sisi described Turkey and Egypt as centers of gravity in the region in a way that contributes to achieving peace, establishing stability.

Erdogan and Sisi also pledged to deepen contacts on files that caused previous tensions, including the Libyan civil war, in which the two capitals backed rival groups.

We also stressed the need to strengthen consultations between the two countries on the Libyan file in order to help hold presidential and legislative elections and unify the countrys military establishment, Sisi said.

Prior to a 2020 cease-fire, Ankara provided military support to the countrys Tripoli-based government against the Libyan National Army of eastern commander Khalifa Hifter, who is backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

Calm in Eastern Mediterranean

A controversial 2019 maritime delineation agreement between Turkey and Libyas Tripoli-based government prompted Egypt and Greece to sign a counteragreement last year, raising tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean over conflicting territorial claims between Ankara and Athens.

Hailing ongoing Turkish-Greek rapprochement that emerged after the devastating twin Feb. 6, 2023, earthquakes, Sisi said his country was looking forward to building on the calm in the Eastern Mediterranean and to resolve the existing differences between the countries bordering the region in a bid to make the most of the natural resources available there.

Erdogan's one-day visit is the first Egyptian-Turkish leaders summit since 2012. Following the military coup in Egypt in 2013 that overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood government led by late President Mohammed Morsi an ally of Turkey the relationship between Cairo and Ankara was curtailed. Following Erdogan's reelection in June, the two countries fully restored their diplomatic ties in July. In November, Erdogan and Sisi met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in India.

This is a breaking story and has been updated since its initial publication.

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Turkey's Erdogan receives red-carpet reception in Egypt, calls Sisi 'brother' - Al-Monitor

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Visiting Cairo, Erdogan says Turkey will cooperate with Egypt on rebuilding Gaza - The Times of Israel

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the World Governments Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered a blistering criticism of Israel, demanding it immediately recognize an independent Palestinian state and halt its war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas. (Kamran Jebreili/AP)

CAIRO Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Edrogan held talks in Cairo on Wednesday with his Egyptian counterpart in efforts to rally support for growing demands in the region that Israel halt its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Erdogans visit comes as ties between Ankara and Cairo are back on track after years of tensions and frosty relations. Turkey has long been a backer of the pan-Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group, which has been outlawed as a terrorist organization in Egypt.

The Turkish leader arrived in the Egyptian capital after visiting on Tuesday the United Arab Emirates, where he met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Erdogan met with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at Cairos Ittihadiya palace, according to Egypts state-run media. Their talks focused on bilateral relations and regional challenges, especially efforts to stop the war in Gaza, el-Sissi later said at a joint news conference.

We agreed on the need for an immediate cease-fire (in Gaza) and the need to achieve calm in the West Bank to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the Egyptian president said.

Erdogans visit to Cairo is his first in over a decade. Egypt and Turkey fell out after the Egyptian military in 2013 ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood, amid mass protest against his divisive one year of rule.

Ankara abandoned its criticism of el-Sissis government over the past years as it tried to repair frayed ties with Egypt and other Arab heavyweights. In November 2022, Erdogan and el-Sissi were photographed shaking hands during the World Cup in Qatar.

The war in Gaza has reached a critical point, with an impeding Israeli offensive on the city of Rafah, along the Gaza Strips border with Egypt, where some 1.4 million people over half the territorys population are crammed into tent camps and overflowing apartments and shelters.

Egypt is concerned that a ground assault on Rafah would push hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians across the border and into Egypts Sinai Peninsula. It has threatened to suspend the countrys decades-old peace treaty with Israel.

Egypt, together with Qatar and the United States, a key Israel ally, has been working to try and broker a cease-fire and the return of the remaining 130 hostages held by Hamas, around a fourth of whom are believed to be dead. The negotiators held talks in Cairo on Tuesday but there were no signs of a breakthrough.

The war began with Hamas assault into Israel on Oct. 7, in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. The overall Palestinian death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 28,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, and a quarter of the territorys residents are starving.

Before the region is exposed to harsher threats, we need to stop the massacre in Gaza now, Erdogan said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Tuesday.

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Turkey's Erdogan visits Egypt as ties are back in full swing after a decade of tensions - Stars and Stripes

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a milestone visit to Egypt on Wednesday, ushering in with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi a new era of friendship and co-operation between the two regional powerhouses after years of tension.

This is Mr Erdogan's first visit to Egypt in more than a decade, a period during which the two nations were mostly locked in a series of public and bitter squabbles over a range of issues, including Cairo's claims that Ankara meddles in the domestic affairs of Arab countries and supports militant groups.

The two leaders signed an agreement to create a joint organisation the Strategic Co-operation Council which will work to advance bilateral relations in all fields.

The Egyptian leader also announced that he would visit Turkey in April for the proposed inaugural meeting of the council. The trip would be Mr El Sisi's first to Turkey since he took office in 2014.

Both leaders said they wanted to increase trade between their two countries in the next few years from about $10 billion at present to $15 billion and spoke of the historical and cultural ties binding the two nations.

"We share with Egypt a joint history that dates back more than 1,000 years and we want to advance relations. Egypt has the will to do that," Mr Erdogan said after talks with his Egyptian host, who said the visit "turned a new page in our relations."

Mr El Sisi received the Turkish leader on his arrival at Cairo Airport before the pair drove to the nearby Al Ittihadya Palace where Mr Erdogan reviewed a guard of honour before their talks.

Relations between the two nations became fraught in 2013 when Egypt's military, then led by Mr El Sisi, removed president Mohammed Morsi from power. The two countries withdrew their respective ambassadors soon after. Mr El Sisi was elected to office the following year.

The two countries began talks to normalise relations more than two years ago, with mid-ranking officials from each side discussing how to resolve outstanding issues. The process received a major boost when Mr El Sisi and Mr Erdogan met for the first time on the sidelines of the World Cup in Doha, Qatar in 2022.

The restoration of full diplomatic ties and the two countries' declared intention to embark on a path of co-operation signal a key change in the region's geopolitical landscape.

The two countries have backed rival sides in the conflict in Libya, next door to Egypt, in the civil war that erupted after the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

Mr El Sisi on Wednesday said Egypt looked forward to co-operating with Turkey to bring stability to Libya through legislative and presidential elections.

Egypt is also opposed to what it considers to be Turkey's undue influence in Syria and Iraq, and perceived attempts to muscle in on Cairo's energy plans in the Eastern Mediterranean with Turkey's traditional rivals Cyprus and Greece.

However, Mr El Sisi struck an upbeat note on Wednesday on the future of those plans, saying he welcomed the "quiet" prevailing in the area at present and was looking forward to building on it.

Resolving differences between the region's littoral nations, he said, would bring maximum benefits to all parties from the huge reserves of natural gas in the area.

Both Egypt and Turkey command large armies and are able to exercise significant influence across the region. Turkey is the only Muslim country that is a Nato member, while Egypt is the most populous Arab nation.

Relations between the two countries and their peoples date back more than a millennium. Egypt became a part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and formal ties to Istanbul remained in place until early in the 20th century.

Mr Erdogan's visit comes after growing economic ties between the two countries.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said earlier this month that Ankara has agreed to provide Egypt with drones, the first known arms deal between Cairo and Ankara since their governments agreed in July to upgrade their diplomatic relations to ambassadorial level after the on-and-off talks to resume ties.

Normalisation in our relations is important for Egypt to have certain technologies, Mr Fidan said. We have an agreement to provide [Egypt] unmanned air vehicles and other technologies.

Mr Erdogan's visit takes on added significance because of the Gaza war.

Mr Erdogan and Mr El Sisi have each strongly criticised Israel over the high Palestinian death toll more than 28,000, mostly civilians, have been killed so far in the territory and the widespread destruction caused by Israel's war.

Both leaders on Wednesday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Updated: February 15, 2024, 7:38 AM

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Turkey's Erdogan in Egypt on a visit that caps thaw in tensions - The National

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Cairo on his first visit since 2012, sealing a thaw in ties and weighing in on indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on pausing the Gaza war.

Erdogan is welcomed at Cairo airport by his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and the two men exchange a handshake on the tarmac, footage of his arrival shows.

Erdogan, an outspoken critic of Israels conduct of the Gaza war, said Monday that he would discuss with efforts to halt the bloodshed with Sissi.

His arrival coincides with that of the Hamas terror group, which dispatched a delegation to Cairo today for talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.

Erdogan earlier said his meetings in Egypt, as well as the United Arab Emirates, would look at what more can be done for our brothers in Gaza.

As Turkey, we continue to make every effort to stop the bloodshed, he told a news conference.

Istanbul served as a base for Hamas political leaders before the October 7 attack. The NATO member asked Hamas chiefs to leave after some were captured on video celebrating the unprecedented attack.

Ankara in November recalled its ambassador to Israel, and has maintained intermittent communication with the Hamas leadership, who see Turkey as a potential ally in ceasefire negotiations.

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Erdogan in Egypt for first time in years as Hamas joins Cairo hostage talks - The Times of Israel