Turkey: Turkey and Egypt have appointed ambassadors to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries at the highest diplomatic level.

In a joint statement released by the Turkish foreign ministry on Tuesday, Cairo and Ankara declared that Turkey nominated Mr. Salih Mutlu Sen as its ambassador to Cairo, and Egypt in turn nominated Amr Elhamamy as its ambassador to Ankara.

“The elevation of the level of diplomatic relations between the two countries was implemented in accordance with the decision taken by the presidents of the two countries,” the statement said.

“This step aims at the renormalization of relations between the two countries and reflects the mutual will to improve bilateral relations in the interests of the Turkish and Egyptian peoples.”

Relations between Cairo and Ankara were severed in 2013 after current Egyptian President Mr. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a coup to remove then-President Mr. Mohamed Morsi, a former Muslim Brotherhood leader and a seasoned political Islamist group active in multiple countries.

Mr. Morsi, the country’s first president who was democratically elected, had the support of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), which was also close to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr. Mensur Akgun, a professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Kultur University, said that the ties between two key regional players have been harmed more than necessary after the coup in 2013, in particular as a result of Ankara’s unbending, tough stance against the government of Sisi, who became the president in 2014.

Since 2013, the two regional rivals, who have faced off on multiple regional fronts with their leaders verbally attacking each other publicly, have entered a rapprochement process in the 2020s.

Senior foreign ministry officials from the two sides have held talks since 2021, and rapprochement efforts between Turkey and Egypt took a key turn after Sisi and Erdogan shook hands at the World Cup in Qatar in late 2022.

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