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How Does Erdogan’s Visit to Cairo Contribute to Developing Relations with Egypt?

Sisi and Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. (dpa)
Sisi and Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. (dpa)
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How Does Erdogan’s Visit to Cairo Contribute to Developing Relations with Egypt?

Sisi and Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. (dpa)
Sisi and Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. (dpa)

- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to arrive in Cairo on Wednesday to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

The one-day visit is the first of its kind in more than 11 years and is seen as the beginning of a new page in relations between the two countries following a period of tensions.

The Cairo talks, according to a statement by the Turkish presidency, focus on “possible steps to be taken within the framework of developing relations between Turkiye and Egypt and activating high-level bilateral cooperation mechanisms.”

The two leaders will also exchange views “on current global and regional issues, especially the Israeli attacks on Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories,” the statement added.

The two countries have appointed ambassadors in July to restore their relations, after a diplomatic rupture that lasted for years against the backdrop of Ankara’s support for the Brotherhood organization, which is banned in Egypt, following the revolt of June 30, 2013.

Sisi and Erdogan shook hands during the opening of the World Cup in Qatar at the end of 2022. They later held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in September.

The visit comes at a crucial stage in the region, according to the head of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Al-Arabi, who told Asharq Al-Awsat that it is an important turn in the course of relations between the two countries after the long hiatus.

Turkish political analyst Jawad Gok noted that the visit is consistent with the radical changes in Ankara’s policy in recent years, which strengthens the Turkish-Arab partnership while adhering to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries.

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In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Gok said that Erdogan’s trip to Cairo enjoys support from various political movements and media outlets, even those opposed to the president’s policies.

Karam Saeed, expert on Turkish affairs at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said the visit is part of the approach of circumventing controversial issues and taking relations to a “strategic level.”

He added that Cairo will support the strengthening of Turkish investments in the country, while Ankara has an opportunity to benefit from the Egyptian role in gas projects in the Eastern Mediterranean, or to expand its presence in Africa, in addition to cooperation in the field of defense and military industries in a way that serves the interests of the two countries.

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As It Attacks Iran's Nuclear Program, Israel Maintains Ambiguity about Its Own

FILE - This file image made from a video aired Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, by Israeli television station Channel 10, shows what the television station claims is Israel's nuclear facility in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first detailed video of the site ever shown to the public. (Channel 10 via AP, File)
FILE - This file image made from a video aired Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, by Israeli television station Channel 10, shows what the television station claims is Israel's nuclear facility in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first detailed video of the site ever shown to the public. (Channel 10 via AP, File)
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As It Attacks Iran's Nuclear Program, Israel Maintains Ambiguity about Its Own

FILE - This file image made from a video aired Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, by Israeli television station Channel 10, shows what the television station claims is Israel's nuclear facility in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first detailed video of the site ever shown to the public. (Channel 10 via AP, File)
FILE - This file image made from a video aired Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, by Israeli television station Channel 10, shows what the television station claims is Israel's nuclear facility in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first detailed video of the site ever shown to the public. (Channel 10 via AP, File)

Israel says it is determined to destroy Iran’s nuclear program because its archenemy's furtive efforts to build an atomic weapon are a threat to its existence.

What’s not-so-secret is that for decades Israel has been believed to be the Middle East’s only nation with nuclear weapons, even though its leaders have refused to confirm or deny their existence, The Associated Press said.

Israel's ambiguity has enabled it to bolster its deterrence against Iran and other enemies, experts say, without triggering a regional nuclear arms race or inviting preemptive attacks.

Israel is one of just five countries that aren’t party to a global nuclear nonproliferation treaty. That relieves it of international pressure to disarm, or even to allow inspectors to scrutinize its facilities.

Critics in Iran and elsewhere have accused Western countries of hypocrisy for keeping strict tabs on Iran's nuclear program — which its leaders insist is only for peaceful purposes — while effectively giving Israel's suspected arsenal a free pass.

On Sunday, the US military struck three nuclear sites in Iran, inserting itself into Israel’s effort to destroy Iran’s program.

Here's a closer look at Israel's nuclear program:

A history of nuclear ambiguity Israel opened its Negev Nuclear Research Center in the remote desert city of Dimona in 1958, under the country's first leader, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. He believed the tiny fledgling country surrounded by hostile neighbors needed nuclear deterrence as an extra measure of security. Some historians say they were meant to be used only in case of emergency, as a last resort.

After it opened, Israel kept the work at Dimona hidden for a decade, telling United States’ officials it was a textile factory, according to a 2022 article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, an academic journal.

Relying on plutonium produced at Dimona, Israel has had the ability to fire nuclear warheads since the early 1970s, according to that article, co-authored by Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a researcher at the same organization.

Israel's policy of ambiguity suffered a major setback in 1986, when Dimona’s activities were exposed by a former technician at the site, Mordechai Vanunu. He provided photographs and descriptions of the reactor to The Sunday Times of London.

Vanunu served 18 years in prison for treason, and is not allowed to meet with foreigners or leave the country.

ISRAEL POSSESSES DOZENS OF NUCLEAR WARHEADS, EXPERTS SAY

Experts estimate Israel has between 80 and 200 nuclear warheads, although they say the lower end of that range is more likely.

Israel also has stockpiled as much as 1,110 kilograms (2,425 pounds) of plutonium, potentially enough to make 277 nuclear weapons, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a global security organization. It has six submarines believed to be capable of launching nuclear cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles believed to be capable of launching a nuclear warhead up to 6,500 kilometers (4,000 miles), the organization says.

Germany has supplied all of the submarines to Israel, which are docked in the northern city of Haifa, according to the article by Kristensen and Korda.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST POSE RISKS

In the Middle East, where conflicts abound, governments are often unstable, and regional alliances are often shifting, nuclear proliferation is particularly dangerous, said Or Rabinowitz, a scholar at Jerusalem's Hebrew University and a visiting associate professor at Stanford University.

“When nuclear armed states are at war, the world always takes notice because we don’t like it when nuclear arsenals ... are available for decision makers,” she said.

Rabinowitz says Israel's military leaders could consider deploying a nuclear weapon if they found themselves facing an extreme threat, such as a weapon of mass destruction being used against them.

Three countries other than Israel have refused to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: India, Pakistan and South Sudan. North Korea has withdrawn. Iran has signed the treaty, but it was censured last week, shortly before Israel launched its operation, by the UN's nuclear watchdog — a day before Israel attacked — for violating its obligations.

Israel's policy of ambiguity has helped it evade greater scrutiny, said Susie Snyder at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a group that works to promote adherence to the UN treaty.

Its policy has also shined a light on the failure of Western countries to rein in nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, she said.

They “prefer not to be reminded of their own complicity,” she said.