Turkey Says it Warned Muslim Brotherhood Against Making Anti-Egypt Statements

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks in Brussels, Belgium, January 21, 2021. Stephanie Lecocq/Pool via REUTERS
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks in Brussels, Belgium, January 21, 2021. Stephanie Lecocq/Pool via REUTERS
TT

Turkey Says it Warned Muslim Brotherhood Against Making Anti-Egypt Statements

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks in Brussels, Belgium, January 21, 2021. Stephanie Lecocq/Pool via REUTERS
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks in Brussels, Belgium, January 21, 2021. Stephanie Lecocq/Pool via REUTERS

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country has warned against making anti-Egypt statements, in the first official statement on measures taken by Ankara regarding Muslim Brotherhood leaders and institutions following the start of a process to normalize relations with Cairo.

Cavusoglu acknowledged publicly for the first time that his country had issued decisive warnings to some critics to the Egyptian authorities, especially those who have made radical speeches and statements against Cairo.

“I see some comments here and there on this subject, and rumors claiming that Turkey was selling the Egyptian opposition… There are some opponents to whom we addressed the necessary warnings, especially those who exaggerate the extremist rhetoric against Egypt,” the Turkish foreign minister said in a television interview on Tuesday evening regarding restrictions imposed on the Brotherhood’s TV channels that broadcast from Istanbul.

Ankara last month asked Egyptian opposition TV channels operating in Turkey to restrain their criticism of Egypt.

However, Cavusoglu said his country remained opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood being declared “terrorists” by Egypt, stressing that Turkey viewed it as a political movement.

The minister revealed ongoing steps to normalize relations with Egypt, saying a meeting would be held at the level of the foreign ministers’ deputies in the first week of May in Cairo, following which he will meet with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, to discuss the appointment of ambassadors and means to further upgrade ties in the future.

Asked about the change in Turkey’s foreign policy, the minister said: “The world is changing at a rapid pace, so is foreign policy.... We must be entrepreneurs, and we must find solutions to disputes. Turkey should be the mediator. Our mediation successes are due to an honest and balanced approach.”



Gazans Shed Tears of Joy, Disbelief at News of Ceasefire Deal

Palestinians react to news of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 15 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians react to news of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 15 January 2025. (EPA)
TT

Gazans Shed Tears of Joy, Disbelief at News of Ceasefire Deal

Palestinians react to news of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 15 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians react to news of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 15 January 2025. (EPA)

Palestinians burst into celebration across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday at news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with some shedding tears of joy and others whistling and clapping and chanting "God is greatest".

"I am happy, yes, I am crying, but those are tears of joy," said Ghada, a mother of five displaced from her home in Gaza City during the 15-month-old conflict.

"We are being reborn, with every hour of delay Israel conducted a new massacre, I hope it is all getting over now," she told Reuters via a chat app from a shelter in Deir al-Balah town in central Gaza.

Youths beat tambourines, blew horns and danced in the street in Khan Younis in the southern part of the enclave minutes after hearing news of the agreement struck in the Qatari capital Doha. The deal outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The accord also provides for the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.

For some, delight was mingled with sorrow.

Ahmed Dahman, 25, said the first thing he would do when the deal goes into effect is to recover the body of his father, who was killed in an airstrike on the family's house last year, and "give him a proper burial."

'A DAY OF HAPPINESS AND SADNESS'

"I feel a mixture of happiness because lives are being saved and blood is being stopped," said Dahman, who like Ghada was displaced from Gaza City and lives in Deir al-Balah.

"But I am also worried about the post-war shock of what we will see in the streets, our destroyed homes, my father whose body is still under the rubble."

His mother, Bushra, said that while the ceasefire wouldn't bring her husband back, "at least it may save other lives."

"I will cry, like never before. This brutal war didn't give us time to cry," said the tearful mother, speaking to Reuters by a chat app.

Iman Al-Qouqa, who lives with her family in a nearby tent, was still in disbelief.

"This is a day of happiness, and sadness, a shock and joy, but certainly it is a day we all must cry and cry long because of what we all lost. We did not lose friends, relatives, and homes only, we lost our city, Israel sent us back in history because of its brutal war," she told Reuters.

"It is time the world comes back into Gaza, focuses on Gaza, and rebuilds it," said Qouqa.

Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen broke through security barriers and burst into Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting more than 250 foreign and Israeli hostages. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Gaza health ministry figures, and left the coastal enclave a wasteland, with many thousands living in makeshift shelters.