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Egypt FM Visits Quake-Shattered Turkey, Syria

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FILE: Egyptian Foreign Minister and Egypt's COP27 President Sameh Shoukry attends an informal stocktaking session during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Taken Nov.18, 2022.
FILE: Egyptian Foreign Minister and Egypt's COP27 President Sameh Shoukry attends an informal stocktaking session during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Taken Nov.18, 2022.

UPDATED WITH SYRIAN VISIT: Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Monday paid a visit to Turkey and Syria in a show of solidarity after a devastating earthquake that claimed tens of thousands of lives in both nations.

The foreign minister's visit to Mersin - a port city in southern Turkey - was the first in a decade of strained ties between Ankara and Cairo after the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

"Our visit (to Turkey) is a message of friendship and solidarity," Shoukry told journalists alongside his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, behind an aid ship docked at Mersin's port.

"We, as the Egyptian government and the Egyptian people, wholeheartedly believe that Turkey will overcome this as soon as possible. It is a great disaster," he said in remarks translated from Arabic.

"We will continue to do our best to help," he said.

Cairo's relations with Ankara have been frosty since a 2013 coup that propelled Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power, deposing Morsi - with whom Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan forged close ties.

In November, al-Sisi and Erdogan shook hands in Qatar, in what the Egyptian presidency heralded as a new beginning in their ties.

"We open new pages in our relations with Egypt," Cavusoglu said, welcoming the visit as "extremely important and meaningful".

"We discussed what steps we would take to improve relations. The development of relations between Turkey and Egypt is in the interest of both parties. It is also extremely important for the peace, development and stability of our region," he said.

The February 6 earthquake killed over 44,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighboring Syria.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Monday pledged solidarity with the Syrian people when he also visited Damascus.

Shoukry held talks with Assad and his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekded, and said he conveyed a message of "solidarity and sympathy" on behalf of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.

The trip is the latest example of regional outreach to President Bashar al-Assad's internationally-isolated government - which was expelled from Cairo-based Arab League after Syria's conflict erupted in 2011.

The Egyptian official is the third Arab foreign minister to meet Assad since the February 6 quake struck Syria and Turkey.

Assad thanked Egypt for its "aid to support the Syrian government's efforts to provide relief to those affected by the earthquake", a statement from his office said.

Cairo's relations with Ankara have been frosty since a 2013 coup that propelled Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power, deposing Morsi - with whom Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan forged close ties.

In November, al-Sisi and Erdogan shook hands in Qatar, in what the Egyptian presidency heralded as a new beginning in their ties.

"We open new pages in our relations with Egypt," Cavusoglu said, welcoming the visit as "extremely important and meaningful".

"We discussed what steps we would take to improve relations. The development of relations between Turkey and Egypt is in the interest of both parties. It is also extremely important for the peace, development and stability of our region," he said.

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