ANKARA – After years of tension, Türkiye announced on Tuesday that Egypt would allow its citizens to apply for a visa upon landing in the country.
The development comes as a latest move in the ties between the two regional countries who had been trading barbs; the announcement has been made nearly a month after Türkiye and Egypt stated that they would upgrade their diplomatic relations to ambassador level as soon as possible and reappoint their envoys. Diplomatic relations between Türkiye and Egypt had been maintained at the level of charges d’affaires since 2013.
“Our citizens who will travel to Egypt will be able to get their visas from the Egyptian border gates from now on,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
Ties between the two countries had turned bitter after they withdrew ambassadors in 2013. Egypt’s then-army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, now the country’s president, had ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi who happened to be an ally of Ankara.
Engagement between senior foreign ministry officials in Ankara and Cairo have helped cement the fractured ties. The most important development in this regard happened in Qatar when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and el-Sissi briefly met in December and shook hands.
Türkiye’s efforts to mend ties with regional states is bearing fruit, a visible indication of which is its improved ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Erdoğan has reiterated that Türkiye hoped to enhance its cooperation with Egypt and Gulf nations “on a win-win basis,” intensifying diplomacy after years of tensions.
Foreign Minister of Türkiye, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu became the highest-ranking Turkish official to visit Egypt in over a decade back in March. Earlier in February, his counterpart Sameh Shoukry visited Türkiye after the country faced earthquake that left over 50,000 dead in what was the first trip by Egypt’s top diplomat since relations soured.
The bone of contention between the two countries had been Libya as well as both countries backed opposing factions in the war-torn area. They had also been at odds over maritime borders in the gas-rich Eastern Mediterranean.
Egypt is also hoping to attract investment from Turkish companies which vowed to invest $500 million in the country to help dampen the effects of economic crisis.
