Sameh Shoukry

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will visit Egypt, his ministry announced Friday, the first such high-level trip in more than a decade as the countries repair relations damaged in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will pay a one-day visit to Egypt on March 18 amid ongoing efforts to mend ties between Ankara and Cairo.

Çavuşoğlu will be the first senior Turkish official to visit Egypt in the last decade.

Egypt announced on Jan. 2 the recovery of a sarcophagus lid dating back nearly 2,700 years that it said had been smuggled out and put on display at a museum in the United States.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry announced the recovery of the artifact, known as the "Green Sarcophagus," during a televised press conference.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said relations between Egypt and Turkey have seen progress.

"The issue (of normalizing relations) has not yet reached the next step but there is some progress that we hope we will build on," Shoukry said in an interview with the local MBC Egypt channel late on Oct. 1. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu will participate in Brussels on Monday in the meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers from EU member states (Foreign Affairs Council - FAC), a meeting debating geopolitical aspects related to the new digital technologies, EU's Strategic Compass and the situation in Ethiopia, as well as recent developments in Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Egypt has praised recent steps by Turkey towards normalizing ties between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in a TV interview late on July 3 that the softening of criticism towards the Egyptian government by Turkey-based opposition channels was preparing the ground for normalizing relations.

Turkey is seeking to establish new mechanisms for discussing bilateral issues with Egypt, the spokesman of the ruling Justine and Development Party (AKP) has said, informing that a senior delegation of the Foreign Ministry will travel to Cairo to discuss the road map for the normalization of ties.

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Egypt spoke by phone on April 10, the Turkish foreign ministry said, their first direct contact since a push by Ankara to improve strained ties between the regional powerhouses.

The two ministers exchanged good wishes over the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which starts next week, the ministry added, but gave no further details.

Ankara "completely rejected baseless" decisions against Turkey taken at the meeting of the Arab League Foreign Ministers Council held on March 3, the Foreign Ministry has said.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokes person on June 6 rejected allegations Egypt leveled against Ankara regarding Libya.

Hami Aksoy said: "We reject the unfounded accusations of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry against Turkey within the context of Libya in the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIL Small Group on June 4, 2020.