DAMASCUS, SYRIA / ISTANBUL, TURKEY – Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Monday, in a rare visit to Syria and Turkey, pledged solidarity with the people of the two neighboring countries after a devastating earthquake claimed tens of thousands of lives. Â
Shoukry met with Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and the country’s foreign minister Faisal Mekded, and said he conveyed a message of “solidarity and sympathy” on behalf of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.
The trip is the latest example of regional outreach to Assad’s internationally-isolated government – which was expelled from Cairo-based Arab League after Syria’s conflict erupted in 2011.
He is the third Arab foreign minister to meet Assad since the February 6 quake.
Cairo was ready to provide more quake relief to the victims of the quake, he told a news conference with Mekdad.
Assad thanked Egypt for its “aid to support the Syrian government’s efforts to provide relief to those affected by the earthquake”, a statement from his office said.
In the aftermath of the quake, Sisi called his Syrian counterpart, in the first official exchange between the two leaders.
Egypt sent three planes and two boats loaded with humanitarian aid to the quake-hit Arab country.
Asked by reporters whether Egyptian-Syrian ties would be fully restored, Shoukry said on Monday that the purpose of his visit was “primarily humanitarian”.
Shoukry’s visit to Mersin – a port city in southern Turkey – was the first in a decade of strained ties between Ankara and Cairo after the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
“Our visit (to Turkey) is a message of friendship and solidarity,” the Egyptian foreign minister told journalists alongside his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, behind an aid ship docked at Mersin’s port.
“We, as the Egyptian government and the Egyptian people, wholeheartedly believe that Turkey will overcome this as soon as possible. It is a great disaster,” he said in remarks translated from Arabic.
“We will continue to do our best to help,” he said.
The February 6 earthquake killed over 44,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighboring Syria.
Cairo’s relations with Ankara have been frosty since a 2013 coup that propelled Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power, deposing Morsi – with whom Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan forged close ties.
In November, Sisi and Erdogan shook hands in Qatar, in what the Egyptian presidency heralded as a new beginning in their ties.
“We open new pages in our relations with Egypt,” Cavusoglu said, welcoming the visit as “extremely important and meaningful”.
“We discussed what steps we would take to improve relations. The development of relations between Turkey and Egypt is in the interest of both parties. It is also extremely important for the peace, development and stability of our region,” he said.
Since the earthquake, the Syrian president has received calls and aid from Arab leaders, a momentum analysts say he could leverage to bolster regional support.
On Sunday, a delegation of Arab parliamentary leaders met with Assad in Damascus, including the speaker of Egypt’s parliament, Hanafy al-Gebali.
Egyptian state media described him as “the most senior Egyptian official to visit Damascus” in over a decade.
Egypt’s official position on Syria has called for “a political solution”, steering clear of discussing the fate of Assad himself, whose departure has long been demanded by several Arab leaders.
Syria’s conflict has claimed around 500,000 lives and displaced around half the country’s pre-war population.