Egypt and Turkey seek to repair long-severed ties. Will Hamas stand between them?
More than a decade after the coup in Egypt that saw Turkey break its ties with the country, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, met his counterpart, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, in Ankara to formally reset relations. At the top of their agenda was Palestine, with both sides saying they will work together toward a ceasefire, ensuring that humanitarian aid continues to flow into Gaza. The messaging will work in both leaders’ favour and their co-operation will help secure aid deliveries – but Erdogan’s relations with Hamas continue to hamper his efforts to present himself as a mediator.
Prior to Hamas’s 7 October massacres in Israel, Erdogan had taken steps to rebuild ties with Israel. The two countries reappointed ambassadors in August 2022 after a diplomatic break of four years. Erdogan was quick to offer himself as a go-between in the conflict but was swiftly rejected as his pro-Palestine rhetoric veered into outright support for Hamas. Following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July, the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flag to half-mast, prompting fury from Israelis. Such gestures will not be forgotten, even if Erdogan reverts to a more conciliatory tone.
Sisi will also remain wary of Erdogan’s courting of Hamas. He has pursued his own crackdown on Islamist groups, in particular the Muslim Brotherhood – the group that he overthrew in 2013 and ideological bedfellow of both Erdogan and Hamas. As Israel’s neighbour, Egypt’s security calculation also varies from Turkey’s.
Nevertheless, Turkey has been a significant provider of aid to Gaza, with much of its shipments coming through the Rafah crossing from Egypt. This is the one area in which co-operation between Turkey and Egypt will be of tangible benefit to the civilians inside Gaza. While talk of pushing for a ceasefire may polish the domestic image of the two leaders, it’s these behind-the-scenes humanitarian efforts that their time should be best spent on.
Hannah Lucinda Smith is Monocle’s Istanbul correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.
