Egypt welcomes hopes to improve relations with Turkey

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry yesterday welcomed every effort “aimed at improving Turkey’s relations with Egypt,” and proposed “a starting point” for the development of these relations.

In a statement, the ministry said it was  “commenting on the statements made by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim over the past two days in the official Turkish TV channel TRT HABER and before the Turkish parliament about his country’s relations with Egypt.”

In the same statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ahmed Abu Zeid, said that “while we welcome every effort to improve Turkey’s relations with Egypt, it must be clear that the recognition of the legitimacy of the Egyptian people’s will, represented in the 30 June 2013 revolution and the legitimate institutions that were established out of it and took over the responsibility for running the country, necessitates recognising and engaging in work with those new authorities as a starting point for the development of Turkey’s relationship with Egypt.”

In an interview with the official Turkish TV channelTRT Haber, released on Monday night, Yildirim said one his county’s main goals is to develop friendly relations with Russia, Egypt and all its neighbours around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.