Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan. The meeting was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry and Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Major General Abbas Kamel.
The Spokesman for the Presidency said the meeting discussed the overall progress in cooperation between the two countries. Both sides expressed appreciation for the positive developments of the Egyptian-Turkish relations, which take place within a framework of mutual respect and common interest. This is while emphasizing the importance of continuing to advance the course of bilateral relations and the transition to a new phase in the coming period. This is in addition to continuing mutual steps and building on tangible progress to activate various bilateral cooperation mechanisms.
Views were exchanged regarding the accelerating military escalation in the Gaza Strip. Both sides agreed on the gravity of the current situation, posing a threat to the stability and security of the region. This requires intensifying international efforts to work to immediately stop violence and restore calm, and to take immediate and effective measures to protect civilians and prevent exposing them to the risks of killing, displacement and destruction.
Both sides expressed deep concern as a result of the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and emphasised the need to provide safe and urgent access to humanitarian aid to the people in the Gaza Strip, and to not expose them to policies of collective punishment such as siege, starvation or displacement. The Turkish foreign minister expressed appreciation for Egypt’s role with regard to coordinating and facilitating the arrival of humanitarian and relief aid from all concerned countries and international organizations to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The President stressed the utmost importance of coordinated international efforts to end the plight of the worsening humanitarian suffering experienced by the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The two sides stressed the importance of pushing towards a fundamental and permanent solution to the current crisis by working on a just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue. This requires all parties to support the achievement of just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution in accordance with the terms of reference of international legitimacy, in a manner that preserves the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and achieves security for all the region’s peoples.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, The Arab Republic of Egypt.
