It was noteworthy that Murat Kurum, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, shared photos from the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference hosted by Egypt, and had a sincere meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Samih Shukri.
The normalization of Turkey and Egypt is of great importance in terms of increasing the economic gains of the two Muslim-populated countries and the balances in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The government of the Republic of Turkey continues its persistent moves to restart the normalization talks, which were suspended by the Egyptian coup regime.
In this context, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum held a bilateral meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Samih Shukri at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) held in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
It was seen that Murat Kurum, who shared the interview photos from his personal account, met with Samih Shukri in a friendly atmosphere. During the meeting, it was concluded that not only the climate issues, but also Turkey's demands to continue the normalization process were conveyed to the Egyptian side.
SAMIH SHUKRI ANNOUNCED THAT NORMALIZATION IS SUSPENDED
Samih Shukri, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Egyptian coup regime, the name with whom the Minister Kurum had a one-on-one meeting, announced on 30 October 2022 that they had unilaterally suspended the normalization process between Egypt and Turkey. The Foreign Minister of the Egyptian coup regime, Shukri, who was on the same front with Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration in the power duel in the Eastern Mediterranean, said that they had stopped the talks to restore the ongoing bilateral relations with Turkey, reacting to the hydrocarbon agreement Turkey signed with the Libyan government.
THE PROCESS FROM 2013 TO 2022
After the military coup in Egypt in 2013, Turkey took a side with the government of Mohammed Morsi, and relations with Egypt deteriorated. Turkey, which recalled its Egyptian ambassador in response to the head of the coup regime, General Sisi, had reduced diplomatic relations to the level of chargé d'affaires. Turkey's diplomatic attitude towards Egypt has changed in the last two years.
The government, which wanted to reconcile with the Sisi regime in terms of balances in the Eastern Mediterranean, made some gestures to the Sisi regime. Despite the high-level talks between the two countries in 2021, the normalization process was stopped by Egypt on October 30, 2022, on the grounds of Turkey's Libya policy.
In the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish government, which wants to pull Egypt away from the Greek-Greek Cypriot Administration alliance and pull Egypt to its own front, promises Egypt a lot of gains from the hydrocarbon resources of the Eastern Mediterranean, but the Sisi regime does not want to normalize with Turkey due to ideological concerns.