Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement: limits and dimensions

Summary

This paper attempts to identify features of the Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement. It also addresses the strategic and non-strategic motives of this rapprochement and seeks to explore its future prospects. Contrary to popular belief, Egypt and Turkey -together- have been keen to maintain a relatively moderate degree of warm relations over the past seven years following the military coup, which enabled bilateral ties to develop positively.

The paper states that while the Egyptian negative propaganda aims to secure a degree of legitimacy for the regime under the banner of subjugating Turkey, Turkish positive propaganda aims to preserve the positive trend of the Egyptian state and push it forward within the framework of enhancement of bilateral relations or at least maintaining warm relations at their current levels.

However, according to the paper, relations between the two countries at the level of presidential institutions are still strained, which may be due to the pressures exerted by the Egyptian regime’s Gulf sponsors, or to the Turkish presidency’s rejection of the idea of ​​military coups and violation of the will of the peoples.