The future of Turkish-Egyptian relations

At that moment, none of us knew what would happen next. From a Turkish perspective, countless efforts to develop stronger economic relations with Egypt were now in jeopardy. Not to mention, an unstable Egypt could create serious challenges for Turkey. But I was also glad that Erdo?an followed his conscience and took the risk. Eventually, it turned out that the Turkish government was betting on the right side.

However, in the months following Mubarak’s departure, the old regime stood fast with only minor cosmetic changes. Would Turkish siding with the protesting masses backfire when the dust settled and revolutionary zeal gave way to disappointment with the realities of a crumbling country?

After countless conversations with activists, lawyers, diplomats, bankers, businessmen and journalists in Egypt, I became convinced that far from damaging Turkish-Egyptian relations, there was a growing space for them to advance. In every interview I conducted about the future of Egypt, my respondents showed immense interest in Turkey. They wanted to know about Turkey, but not merely to see how the model could be copied to fit the Egyptian context. They were curious to learn how the Turkish economy had recovered from the disaster of 2001. They wanted to understand how democracy, human rights, army-civilian relations and civil society had evolved in Turkey.