Turkey has decided to appoint a new ambassador to Cairo to fill the vacant diplomatic post for nearly nine years. The officials said the new ambassador would be Salih Mutlu Şen, Turkey's former representative to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) between 2015-and 2020.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was
also a vocal critic of Sisi's post-coup crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood leaders
and members. The gap between the two countries widened even further, with Egypt
and Turkey siding with opposing sides in the Libyan conflict. The Turkish
government lifted a veto against Egypt's NATO partnership activities last year
and stopped broadcasting political programming by Egyptian opposition TV
channels based in Istanbul to repair the relationship.
Last year, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar stated that Turkey would like to restart relations with Egypt. Two countries held two rounds of talks aimed at improving the relationship.
At the time, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa
Madbouly said a vital issue for Cairo was Ankara's involvement in Libya, a
country that has faced a nearly decade-long conflict following the ousting of
longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.
The recent push by the two countries to mend
relations is part of a broader realignment in the region since US President Joe
Biden's election.