By Athena Papakosta

A relationship that went through 40 waves in the last 12 years was reheated on… Valentine’s Day. THE Recep Tayyip Erdoganfor the first time since 2012, visited Cairo and met with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whom – a few years ago – he called a “coup” and “murderer”.

The process reconciliation between Turkey and Egypt it had begun, behind the scenes, about two years ago and was sealed yesterday, Wednesday, to the sound of cannon fire.

It had first preceded the two shaking hands at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but also their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored last July with the mutual appointment of ambassadors while, a few weeks before, the Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidanhad revealed that the Turkish president is arriving in Egypt with a gift of the planned sale of Turkish drones.

The last time the Turkish leader had visited Cairo was in November 2012, when Mohamed Morsi was still the president of the Arab country. Morsi has since been overthrown in a 2013 military coup by the then head of the Egyptian armed forces, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and taken to prison where he died in 2019.

Yesterday, Wednesday, at the Cairo airport, the Abdel Fattah al-Sisi he greeted with a smile the, also… smiling, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The red carpet had already been rolled out and the two leaders began to walk and talk, both accompanied by their wives. The Turkish media had already interrupted the normal flow of their program to broadcast directly the arrival of the Turkish president in the Egyptian capital and the new page that had just opened in the relations between the two countries.

“The two leaders’ talks focused on bilateral relations and the challenges of the region, focusing mainly on efforts to stop the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip,” the Egyptian president said with his Turkish counterpart taking the floor and calling on Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahunot to launch a ground attack on Rafah accusing him of “massacres” in Gaza.

In fact, Recep Tayyip Erdogan pointed out that “efforts to reduce the population in Gaza are unacceptable” thus supporting Egypt’s red line which threatens to suspend the peace treaty with Israel in the event that Israeli troops attempt in this border town of the Palestinian enclave where civilians have taken refuge and may be forced to flee to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

“Let’s open a new chapter between the two countries to strengthen our bilateral relations and put them on the right track,” al-Sisi emphasized, confirming, as he said, “we are proud and value our historical relations with Turkey and our common cultural heritage”.

From the side of Turkish president calling his Egyptian counterpart “brother” he invited him to Anchor with the two leaders meeting in April, he pledged to boost bilateral trade with Egypt by $15 billion in the short term, adding that the two countries would also assess their energy and defense cooperation. However, analysts say the fact that the two leaders did not discuss the maritime zones remains an asterisk that will concern the future when negotiations on the issue are at a more mature stage.