Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced today from Cairo that “a meeting is being prepared” between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for the two countries to seal the end of a decade-long rupture in relations. their.

At the press conference he gave together with Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Soukry, Cavusoglu said he “wants the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries at the highest level.”

“It is possible that we will disagree in the future but we will do everything to avoid a new rupture in our relations,” he assured.

Soukry confirmed that there is “political will on the part of the presidents of the two countries (…) with the aim of normalizing relations”.

The United States “welcomed” this visit, which it describes as “an important step for stability and prosperity in the region,” as White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a tweet.

Turkey’s relations with Egypt were abruptly severed when Sisi came to power in 2013 after the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, who came from the Muslim Brotherhood and was a close ally of Turkey. At the time, President Erdogan had declared that he would “never” speak to “someone like Sisi”.

The day after the February 6 earthquake that killed nearly 48,500 people in Turkey, the two presidents spoke by phone. They had already shaken hands in November when they met in Qatar during the World Cup.

Today, Cavusoglu said that “after the elections” in Turkey, which are scheduled for May 14, “our president will meet with President Sisi.”