Energy News Beat Publishers Note: Turkey’s decision to start the “new chapter” is a great thing, that has underlying tones of oil and gas success in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Coupled with the Middle East’s new peace treaties have created a positive environment to bring Turkey to the negotiation tables. See also the Bloomberg article Turkey Signals Push for Deal on Maritime Boundary With Egypt.
Turkey is sending its strongest signal yet that it’s ready to mend ties with Arab countries that have been strained by Ankara’s support for Islamist-rooted governments.
“A new chapter can be opened, a new page can be turned in our relationship with Egypt as well as other Gulf countries to help regional peace and stability,” Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said in an interview in Istanbul on Saturday.
The shift in tone, which has also emanated from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, coincides with foreign policy reboots in both the Gulf and Washington.
Most Gulf nations see Islamist political movements as a threat to dynastic rule. Relations between Turkey and Egypt soured after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi toppled the country’s Islamist leader, Mohamed Mursi, in 2013.
Since then Egypt and Turkey have also clashed over maritime claims, Libya and Iraq.
Bloomberg
