TURKEY TO RESTORE RELATIONS WITH COUNTRIES IN THE REGION

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç. Photo: Genncyorum.org

Ankara, 21 Safar 1436/14 December 2014 (MINA) – Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said that his government is exerting all efforts to restore relations with countries in the region, especially after a period of “cold relations” with these countries in recent years.

Egypt’s state-run news agency MENA reported on Saturday that Arınç said that Turkey’s relations with Syria, the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq were affected by a number of political issues.

“Despite everything we are friends and brothers,” Arınç added, as quoted by Ahram online and Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

In a parliamentary session on the government’s budget for 2015, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the leader of the Republican People’s Party Kemal Klijdar Ihsanoglu argued about strained relations between Turkey and Egypt, with Ihsanoglu demanding to know the “real reasons” behind the tension.

In 2013 several Arab countries, including Egypt, recalled their ambassadors to Turkey after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the ouster of Egypt’s Mohamed Morsi. (T/R04/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)