Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi spoke on the phone Friday to discuss what the Turkish presidency said were human rights violations by Israel in Gaza and how to provide humanitarian aid, Reuters reported.
Erdoğan told Egyptian President Sisi that “Western silence” on the bombings of hospitals, schools and places of worship is worsening the situation in Gaza, according to a statement from the president’s office.
Erdoğan said that forcing Palestinians in Gaza to migrate is unacceptable and that Turkey will work to bring peace and provide humanitarian aid and medical care as soon as possible, the statement said.
Relations between Turkey and Egypt, which were severed a decade ago when Sisi, then Egypt’s defense minister, ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, an ally of Turkey and part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, have been on a course of normalization for several years.
Both countries appointed ambassadors for the first time this summer in a decade in the latest sign of warming ties.
Disagreements remain as Turkey is home to many Arab journalists and dissidents critical of their governments, in particular Egyptians close to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Cairo has outlawed.