Thaw in Cairo-Ankara relations fills experts with hope

Update Thaw in Cairo-Ankara relations fills experts with hope
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Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (R) meets with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Cairo (AFP)
Update Thaw in Cairo-Ankara relations fills experts with hope
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Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (R) and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu give a joint press conference after their meeting in Cairo on March 18, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 19 March 2023

Thaw in Cairo-Ankara relations fills experts with hope

Thaw in Cairo-Ankara relations fills experts with hope
  • Said presidents Erdogan and El-Sisi would meet
  • The two countries have been at odds in recent years over Libya

CAIRO: Egypt and Turkiye took another step towards improving their relations on Saturday when Ankara’s top diplomat visited Cairo for the first time since ties were ruptured a decade ago and held talks with his Egyptian counterpart.

At a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said talks had been “honest, deep and transparent.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: “I’m very glad that we are taking concrete steps for normalizing relations with Egypt ... We will do our best not to rupture our ties again in future.”

Shoukry added, “There is a political will and directives from the presidents of both countries when they met in Doha ... to launch the path toward a full normalization of relations.”

He was referring to a brief meeting between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Qatar World Cup, where they shook hands.

Cavusoglu’s visit follows a trip last month by Shoukry to Turkiye in a show of solidarity after the devastating earthquake that claimed tens of thousands of lives in the country and in neighboring Syria.

“It is possible that we will disagree in the future, but we will do everything to avoid breaking our relations again,” Cavusoglu said.

Relations ran into trouble after the 2013 ouster of Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi, an ally of Turkiye.

Cavusoglu said the meeting between Erdogan and El-Sisi would take place “after the Turkish elections.” The presidential vote is scheduled for May 14.

Mamdouh Al-Saghir, a specialist in foreign affairs, told Arab News: “The visit of the Turkish foreign minister is a tribute from Turkiye for the assistance provided by Cairo following the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkiye last month. Also, President El-Sisi called Erdogan following the tragedy.

“In November last year, Cavusoglu announced that Turkiye might reappoint its ambassador to Egypt in the coming months, indicating further steps toward normalization between the two countries.”

Arab political affairs expert Ahmed Kamal said: “The discussions between Shoukry and Cavusoglu confirm that bilateral relations will become even stronger than before.

“Turkiye’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood’s leaders was one of the sensitive issues between the two countries. But, after Ankara cut the Brotherhood’s organizational and movement capabilities things cooled off, which might enable the two countries to restore relations at a better level than before,” he continued.

“I also expect them to discuss the new alliances in the region, especially after the thaw in Iranian-Saudi relations, and the important effects (that could) have in the Middle East,” Kamal added.

“Turkiye’s support for many terrorist organizations has become a thing of the past. Cairo-Ankara trade relations, which were not interrupted during the years of tension, can now become bigger and more fruitful,” Kamal concluded.

Abeer Hamdy, a writer specializing in international economic affairs, told Arab News: “Political coordination between Turkiye and Egypt is important, but trade cooperation is much more important.

“Turkiye appreciates many distinguished Egyptian products and the opposite is also true. There are more prospects for economic improvement, especially during the phase of calm between the two countries. This is what the leaders will discuss behind closed doors, specifically issues related to gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean region,” Hamdy continued.

She added: “This rapprochement will encourage Egypt to expand its trade relations with Turkey. Over the past 15 years, the volume of trade exchange between the two countries has more than doubled.”

As part of that tentative reconciliation, Ankara asked Egyptian opposition TV channels operating in Turkiye to moderate their criticism of Egypt.

Last month, Egyptian FM Shoukry visited Turkiye in a show of solidarity after the massive earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkiye and Syria.

Last month, Egypt’s government, which has been struggling to manage an acute shortage of foreign currency, said Turkish companies had committed to $500 million in new investments in Egypt.


Iraq’s Kurdistan region to hold elections on Nov. 18 — spokesman

Iraq’s Kurdistan region to hold elections on Nov. 18 — spokesman
Updated 7 sec ago

Iraq’s Kurdistan region to hold elections on Nov. 18 — spokesman

Iraq’s Kurdistan region to hold elections on Nov. 18 — spokesman
SULAIMANIYA: Elections will be held in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq on Nov. 18, the regional government spokesman said on Sunday.
Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani issued a decree on Sunday and approved the date, KRG spokesman Dilshad Shahab told a news conference.
The vote should elect both a parliament and a president for Kurdish regions which have gained self-rule in 1991.

GCC appeals to US over Israeli minister’s Palestinian comments

GCC appeals to US over Israeli minister’s Palestinian comments
Updated 9 min 22 sec ago

GCC appeals to US over Israeli minister’s Palestinian comments

GCC appeals to US over Israeli minister’s Palestinian comments
  • The US State Department said they had found Smotrich’s comments “innacurate, dangerous”

LONDON: The Gulf Cooperation Council said on Sunday it had written to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemning controversial comments made by Israel’s finance minister in which he denied the existence of a Palestinian people.

Secretary General Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi said that the foreign ministers of the GCC had sent the joint letter, which embodied the position of the leaders of the GCC countries regarding the Palestinian cause, Saudi Press Agency reported.

In the letter, the GCC called on Washington “to assume its responsibilities in responding to all measures and statements that target the Palestinian people,” and also called on the US “to play its role in reaching a just, comprehensive and lasting solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He added that the letter praised the American position which rejected the statements made by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Albudaiwi said the 155th session of the GCC Ministerial Council, which was held on March 22 and met in Riyadh, stressed the GCC's support for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over all Palestinian lands occupied since June 1967, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, that guarantees all the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, and rejects settlements in the occupied Palestinian lands.

The US State Department said they had found Smotrich’s comments “to not only be inaccurate but also deeply concerning and dangerous.”

Smotrich is part of veteran Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government that took office in December.

* With AFP


Tunisia recovers 29 bodies after migrant vessels capsize

Tunisia recovers 29 bodies after migrant vessels capsize
Updated 12 min 28 sec ago

Tunisia recovers 29 bodies after migrant vessels capsize

Tunisia recovers 29 bodies after migrant vessels capsize
  • Rome has pressured Tunisian authorities to rein in the flow of people

TUNIS: Tunisia’s coast guard said Sunday the bodies of 29 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries had been recovered after three vessels capsized, the latest in a string of such tragedies.
A series of shipwrecks has left dozens of migrants dead and others missing in the country that serves as a key conduit for migrants seeking to reach nearby European shores.
It comes after President Kais Saied made an incendiary speech last month, accusing sub-Saharan Africans of representing a demographic threat and causing a crime wave in Tunisia.
The coast guard said in a statement Sunday that it had “rescued 11 illegal migrants of various African nationalities after their boats sank” off the central eastern coast, citing three separate sinkings.
In one, a Tunisian fishing trawler recovered 19 bodies 58 kilometers (36 miles) off the coast after their boat capsized.
A coast guard patrol off the coastal city of Mahdiya also recovered eight bodies and “rescued” 11 other migrants after their boat sank as it headed toward Italy.
Fishing trawlers in Sfax meanwhile recovered two other bodies.
Black migrants in the country have faced a spike in violence since Saied’s speech and hundreds have been living in the streets for weeks in increasingly desperate conditions.
People fleeing poverty and violence in Sudan’s Darfur region, West Africa and other parts of the continent have for years used Tunisia as a springboard for often perilous attempts to reach safety and better lives in Europe.


The Italian island of Lampedusa is just 150 kilometers (90 miles) off the Tunisian coast, part of the Central Mediterranean route described by the United Nations as the most deadly in the world.
Rome has pressured Tunisian authorities to rein in the flow of people, and has helped beef up the coast guard, which rights groups accuse of violence.
Italy’s hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned Friday that Tunisia’s “serious financial problems” risked sparking a “migratory wave” toward Europe.
She also confirmed plans for a mission to the North African country involving the Italian and French foreign ministers.
Meloni echoed comments earlier in the week by Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, who warned Tunisia risks economic collapse that could trigger a new flow of migrants to Europe — fears Tunis has since dismissed.
Since Saied’s speech, hundreds of migrants have been repatriated in flights organized by their embassies, but many say they fear going home and have called on the UN to organize evacuation flights to safe third countries.
Tunisia is in the throes of a long-running socio-economic crisis, with spiralling inflation and persistently high joblessness, and Tunisians themselves make up a large proportion of the migrants traveling to Italian shores.
The heavily indebted North African country is in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a $2-billion bailout package, but the talks have been stalled for months and there is no sign a deal is any closer.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Wednesday that unless they reach an agreement, “the economy risks falling off the deep end.”


Israeli group asks court to punish Netanyahu over legal plan

Israeli group asks court to punish Netanyahu over legal plan
Updated 26 March 2023

Israeli group asks court to punish Netanyahu over legal plan

Israeli group asks court to punish Netanyahu over legal plan

TEL AVIV: An Israeli good governance group on Sunday asked the country’s Supreme Court to punish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with the country’s judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.
The request by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel intensifies a brewing showdown between Netanyahu’s government and the judiciary, which it is trying to overhaul in a contentious plan that has sparked widespread opposition.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of the overhaul, asked the court to force Netanyahu to obey the law and sanction him either with a fine or prison time for not doing so, saying he was not above the law.
“A prime minister who doesn’t obey the court and the provisions of the law is privileged and an anarchist,” said Eliad Shraga, the head of the group, echoing language used by Netanyahu and his allies against protesting opponents of the overhaul. “The prime minister will be forced to bow his head before the law and comply with the provisions of the law.”
Netanyahu is barred by the country’s attorney general from dealing with his government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary, based on a conflict of interest agreement he is bound to, and which the Supreme Court acknowledged in a ruling over Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while on trial for corruption.
But on Thursday, after parliament passed a law making it harder to remove a sitting prime minister, Netanyahu said he was unshackled by the attorney general’s decision and vowed to wade into the crisis and “mend the rift” in the nation. That declaration prompted the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, to warn that Netanyahu was breaking his conflict of interest agreement by entering the fray.
The fast-paced legal and political developments have catapulted Israel into uncharted territory and to a burgeoning constitutional crisis, said Guy Lurie, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.
“We are at the start of a constitutional crisis in the sense that there is a disagreement over the source of authority and legitimacy of different governing bodies,” he said.
If Netanyahu continues to intervene in the overhaul as he promised, Baharav-Miara could launch an investigation into whether he violated the conflict of interest agreement, which could lead to additional charges against him, Lurie said. He added that the uncertainty of the events made him unsure of how they were likely to unfold.
It is also unclear how the court, which is at the center of the divide surrounding the overhaul, will treat the request to sanction Netanyahu.
Netanyahu is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate affairs involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and dismisses critics who say he will try to seek an escape route from the charges through the legal overhaul.
The overhaul will give the government control over who becomes a judge and limit judicial review over government decisions and legislation. Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore a balance between the judicial and executive branches and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.
Critics say the plan upends Israel’s fragile system of checks and balances and pushes Israel down a path toward autocracy.
The government has pledged to pass a key part of the overhaul this week before parliament takes a month recess, but pressure has been building on Netanyahu to suspend the plan.


Burhan: Sudan’s army will be under leadership of civilian government

Burhan: Sudan’s army will be under leadership of civilian government
Updated 26 March 2023

Burhan: Sudan’s army will be under leadership of civilian government

Burhan: Sudan’s army will be under leadership of civilian government

Sudan's leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said on Sunday that the country's army will be brought under the leadership of a new civilian government. Speaking before a session for security and army reforms in Khartoum Burhan said his country will build a military force that will not intervene in politics and will be trusted by the Sudanese people in building a modern and democratic state.
More than a year after the military took power in a coup, the military and its former civilian partners and other political forces have agreed on a framework to form a new transitional government and write a new constituation to be announced next month.