Sep. 5, 2020
Abdurrahman Salahuddin, the Former Egyptian Ambassador to Ankara, has given an exclusive interview for the Turkish TV channel KRT. During the interview, he spoke about the current disputes between the two countries, while giving his assessments about a diplomatic rapprochement. Here are some highlights of that interview:
“I presented my letter of credence with my wife to the Former President Abdullah Gul, we managed to triple our trade venue, and quadruple our tourism venues, by cooperation over these three years. In addition to our cultural exchanges, we also had some military exchanges as well. Turkey now has set every Naval force in the Mediterranean against itself, but during 2012 and 2013, Egyptian and Turkish Navies conducted joint exercises. Turkish officials were also proud of these joint exercises. Today, Turkey was left isolated, and I know that this isolation was tried to be linked to some conspiracies of countries such as Russia, the USA, and even Egypt, yet all these countries had been close friends of Turkey, especially when the government was the AK Party. The only thing that changed since then was that Turkey now puts the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood ahead of its own interests. This is the thing we want to be fixed.
I have not lost all hope regarding Turkey, but those who still think like me are becoming fewer and fewer. Many of my friends in Egypt tell me that I am unrealistic, and that I need to give up on all hope about Turkey and the Turkish government. But I still argue against them, and try to improve our relations.”
Read more at http://www.defenddemocracy.press/there-will-be-rapprochement-if-turkey-changes-its-polities/
