Sparring presidents Erdogan and el-Sisi shake hands as they meet in Qatar for first time
- Turkey’s Erdogan and Egypt’s el-Sisi have been at odds since the 2013 ousting in Cairo of Islamist president Mohammed Mursi, who was backed by Erdogan
- Erdogan hinted that Turkey could revisit strained ties with regional countries including Egypt after next year’s election. Egypt’s presidency did not comment
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met on Sunday in Qatar for the first time, a picture from Turkey’s presidency showed.
Erdogan and Sisi have been sparring since the military’s 2013 ousting in Cairo of Islamist president Mohammed Mursi, personally backed by Erdogan.
A Turkish official confirmed to Agence France-Presse the handshake in Doha during the opening ceremony for the Fifa World Cup.
Turkey has moved to warm ties with some regional foes including Egypt since last year but Cairo has not shown the same level of enthusiasm for a rapprochement as Ankara has.
The picture, however, showed a sincere handshake between the two leaders.
The Egyptian presidency did not comment on the meeting.
Erdogan hinted that Turkey could revisit strained ties with regional countries including Syria and Egypt after next year’s election.
“We can reconsider ties with the countries that we have problems with,” he was quoted as saying by Turkish media this week aboard his plane returning from a G20 summit in Indonesia.
“We can even start from scratch especially after the June election,” he said.
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After the 2011 Arab spring uprisings in several Middle Eastern countries, Istanbul became a refuge for Islamist opposition activists, especially for Egyptians linked to Mursi’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Last year, Erdogan’s government demanded popular Egyptian exiled talk show hosts, such as Moataz Matar and Mohamed Nasser, tone down their criticism of Egypt’s leader.
At massive rallies in past years, Erdogan has frequently raised a four-finger salute seen as a tribute to hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters killed by security forces in Cairo following Mursi’s ousting.
