Ankara and Cairo will cooperate more closely in Libya, where they support opposing sides, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said today at a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Soukry.

The two countries are trying to normalize their relations, after cutting diplomatic ties after the overthrow, ten years ago, of the then president of Egypt and an ally of Ankara, Mohamed Morsi. Cavusoglu visited Cairo last month while Soukry went to Turkey to express solidarity with the country after the February earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

One of their disagreements concerned the issue of Libya. “From now on, we will cooperate more closely on the issue of Libya. In our meeting today (we saw) that our views are not fundamentally very different but that we think differently about some methods,” Cavusoglu said. The two countries will work together on drawing up a road map for holding elections in Libya and can also work on training and strengthening a unified army from the forces of eastern and western Libya, he added.

“We share with Turkey the same desire to hold elections in Libya,” Soukry said.

Libya plunged into chaos after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and its division into rival camps. The last major battle, however, ended in 2020, with a truce being reached. The political process, however, has been bogged down since elections scheduled for December 2021 were postponed due to disagreements over the rules and, most importantly, the eligibility of the main presidential candidates.

Disagreement over Syria

Soukri called on Turkey to withdraw its forces from Syria, in a sign of continued tension between the two countries despite efforts to mend their ties.

“I stated that the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria must be preserved. I also said that foreign forces must withdraw from Syrian territory,” the Egyptian minister said, referring to talks he had earlier with Cavusoglu.

“We are committed, more than anyone else” to Syria’s territorial integrity, Cavusoglu replied. “Our priority is the fight against terrorism (…) Our presence there is important to prevent threats against us but also to prevent attempts to break up Syria,” he asserted.

Cavusoglu and Soukry also said the two countries would take steps to appoint ambassadors and prepare a meeting between their presidents.