Turkey and Egypt agreeing on one issue does not require them to agree on everything

The recent exchange of messages between Türkiye and Egypt and the prospect of opening a new page are increasingly becoming reality. Statements coming first of all from Egyptian authorities, saying that Egypt will respect the continental shelf limits declared by Türkiye in its activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, were received positively in Türkiye, and in response came the words of Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar and Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın, to the effect that there had been some contacts, words that were interpreted as heralding a new page between the two countries. Lastly came the statements of President Erdoğan, confirming all these declarations and pointing to the unity and brotherhood between the "Egyptian people" and the "Turkish people."

It was striking that these positive messages from Türkiye were not, at first, followed by messages of the same level from Egypt. Indeed, statements by the Egyptian Foreign Minister, almost setting conditions as though this desire for a relationship were coming one-sidedly from Türkiye, appeared in the press.

As if that were not enough, some lists were published in Egypt's official or "semi-official" media under the heading of the conditions Egypt was putting forward in response to Türkiye's request to mend relations. Lists of demands that defy reason and amount to delirium.

Looking at the list, you would think that Türkiye had lost a war and armistice terms were being presented to it. What is not on the list: the arrest of Egyptian opponents in Türkiye and their delivery to the Egyptian authorities, the withdrawal of its military presence in Libya, Syria and Iraq, abandoning its harmful activities and rhetoric against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, giving up the neo-Ottoman ambitions that disturb Arab countries, and Erdoğan's apologizing to Sisi, and so on. What else!

Of course there is nothing in these ravings to be taken seriously. But they point to one thing. They point to who is made uneasy by a possible rapprochement between Türkiye and Egypt, and what kind of reflex they set in motion against it.

Never mind the Egyptian media; a process of becoming reasonable took place there shortly afterwards. But the real voice behind this rhetoric, which the Egyptian media quickly abandoned, began to be heard. Two days ago the Dubai-based channels Skynews and Arabia began to broadcast, in sensational language and with "breaking" and "piping hot news" alerts, reports that Egyptian TV channels broadcasting in Türkiye had been closed and that all the leading figures among Egyptian opponents had been arrested to be handed over to the Egyptian authorities. The aim of these broadcasts, which lasted for hours, is to try to give the impression that Türkiye has abandoned the principled stance it has maintained until now and has almost surrendered to the coup-making Dubai empire. In response to these broadcasts, I connected to some channels that called me insistently and tried to explain that the owners of these desires are doomed to be left with them stuck in their throats.

It is a report entirely made up at a desk, and it reflects nothing but their own bankrupt wishes about Türkiye. In their own countries a human being is worth no more than a fly, and they want a human being to be worth nothing in Türkiye either.

It is as if, were Türkiye also to have a despotic, oppressive administration that is criminal toward human rights as theirs is, they themselves would be relieved and the pressure on them to be a better administration would ease. The discomfort Türkiye causes them is such a strange discomfort. That is why they take an interest in the slightest humanitarian situation in Türkiye even more than Europeans do, hoping thereby to seize the opportunity to say, look, all of Türkiye's claims about democracy and human rights were empty, and so to console themselves.

Yet they should know that it is out of the question for Türkiye to hand over any person to a country that has the death penalty, or has no fair and transparent judiciary, or where torture and arbitrary arrests are commonplace. This is contrary to the international human rights and refugee law that Türkiye is also subject to. But what is even more interesting is that, in the contacts in question, the Egyptian authorities have no such demand or expectation of Türkiye, nor could they. Moreover, Türkiye's rapprochement with Egypt on the agenda, or its improving relations to a certain level, does not require agreement on every issue either. Disputes will remain, may remain, on many matters. With which country does Türkiye agree on everything just because it has good relations with it on some issues? With the USA? With Iran? With Israel or Russia?

Besides, the request to improve relations "to a certain level" does not come only from Türkiye; it comes from both sides, and since the occasion arises, it is worth recalling it again. After all, what is at stake is merely an agreement in the Eastern Mediterranean from which Egypt would benefit more. Such an agreement does not require the regimes of the countries to change, nor does it require them to agree on any other subject.

It is well known that Egypt's agreement with Greece costs Egypt a loss of at least 20 thousand km2. This is a big loss, and if this loss is caused by lack of communication, even hostility, with Türkiye, Türkiye is offering Egypt an opportunity to turn back from its own harm.

It is Egypt that needs such an agreement more, not Türkiye. Everyone sees that from the moment Türkiye entered the scene, no agreement has any chance of working without it, Israel included.

Also, contrary to how it is presented with great relish in some Arab media, Türkiye's economy is not in difficulty; on the contrary it continues to be one of the world's rising economies, and it is not in international isolation either. Both economic decline and international isolation are in fact precisely the problem of the very countries that are the source of these reports.

Even so, because Türkiye is run by a political mind, it can judge that disputes on some issues can be set aside.

Because it offers Egypt, and indeed all parties in the Eastern Mediterranean, a ground and an opportunity for agreement in the Eastern Mediterranean, let no one expect Türkiye to give up its human rights and its principled policies.