The government has made another comeback in foreign policy. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan went to the capital, Doha, last week to attend the opening of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, upon the invitation of the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamed Al Thani. During this visit, a meeting with Egyptian President Abdal Fattah Sisi and the emergence of an unexpectedly warm photo were also at the center of Turkey's agenda.
With the Arab Spring process, as a result of the popular uprising against Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, legitimate elections were held and Mohammed Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected as the President of Egypt. Mursi, who was dismissed by a military coup after an 11-month ruling period, later died in prison.
Turkey's reaction in the first place was quite appropriate. Of course, it was not acceptable for an elected person to be terminated by a military coup. Of course, it was necessary to make statements against the coup. However, while the government took a stand against this coup in Egypt, after a while, it made the problem the main topic of the domestic political agenda. He created campaigns on what happened in Egypt. He was even invited and participated in the AK Party's 4th Great Ordinary Congress while he was in office.
The meeting areas were decorated with the Rabia symbol, which expresses the resistance of the Egyptian people. The government defined itself with this symbol in every public and open meeting. In fact, he took the matter further in the election propaganda, as far as the rhetoric that Sisi would win if his own candidates could not win.
While all these processes were going on, those who said that the situation did not comply with the state's mind and that a more reasonable but reasonable process management was needed were directly declared as supporters of Sisi. Because it was not right for both Egypt and Turkey to cut off all contact with the Egyptian people, which exceeds 100 million. It was clear that others would benefit from it.
It was true that there was a crisis, but the government was not managing the crisis, it was aiming to gain political benefit from the crisis. Over the years, it has become clear how much of a problem this approach of the government poses for Turkey and the region. During the controversial agenda in Libya, there were even discussions about the possibility of a hot war between Turkey and Egypt. In fact, the military power of both countries was discussed over the weapon inventories available. The separation did not end there.
Egypt signed an Agreement on the Delimitation of Maritime Jurisdiction with both Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration (GCA). Pipeline agreements were signed with Israel for the transport of Mediterranean gas as liquefied gas (LNG) to Europe via Egypt. Again, in this process, trade experienced troubled times from time to time. Obstacles arose in the arrangement of both container transportation and RO-RO (Roll on - Rolloff / Transport of wheeled vehicles from one place to another by ships).
With these developments, Turkey began to describe its foreign policy as "precious loneliness". It was obvious that this strategy was not suitable for the problems of the people who were persecuted in Egypt, nor for Turkey's regional and global interests. This language and approach of Turkey triggered disagreements within the Muslim Brotherhood. Those who did not want to come face to face with Turkey adopted a different attitude.
However, since they had been hit many times before, they had a mental infrastructure on how to deal with the problem. As a result of the fact that they took refuge in Turkey and Qatar and did not want to conflict with the governments, they took a tougher stance in the internal division. In fact, the final photo shocked them the most.
In the framework of all these events, despite all the negativities experienced, the normalization of relations with Egypt is for the benefit of both the parties, the people who are struggling to survive under pressure in Egypt, and the whole region. However, when we recommended youth and restraint yesterday and said that relations should not be cut completely, we refer those who accuse us of supporting bloody dictators, first to their own conscience and then to the high appreciation of our nation, in the face of the latest situation - if there is still one.