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Erdogan has said discussions would focus on Israel's offensive
in the Gaza Strip. The leaders, whose relations frayed over
Egypt's 2013 military coup and its fallout for the Muslim
Brotherhood, planned to hold a joint press conference later.
The visit caps diplomatic efforts in recent years to thaw the
nations' frosty relations. They mutually appointed ambassadors
last year, and this month Turkey said it would provide Egypt
with armed drones.
Relations between Ankara and Cairo broke down in 2013 after
Egypt's then-army chief Sisi led the ouster of the Brotherhood's
Mohamed Mursi, an ally of Turkey who had become Egypt's first
democratically elected president the year before.
Sisi greeted Erdogan as he emerged from his plane in Cairo with
his wife and they conversed as they walked along a red carpet
amid a fanfare, live television footage showed.
According to a draft program, Sisi and Erdogan were to hold
bilateral talks before a meeting between the two delegations,
with a formal dinner planned.
Erdogan has sought to ease tensions with Egypt, the United Arab
Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel since 2021 - though since
October he has publicly sniped with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's devastating war against
Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Egypt, Israel, Qatar and the United States held inconclusive
talks on Tuesday in search of a Gaza truce agreement. Cairo has
made clear it will not allow an exodus of Gaza refugees over its
border with the shattered Palestinian territory.
Mursi died in prison in Egypt in 2019. Other senior members of
the Muslim Brotherhood are jailed in Egypt or have fled abroad,
including to Turkey. The Brotherhood remains outlawed in Egypt.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Tala Ramadan in Dubai, Ece
Toksabay in Ankara; writing by Jonathan Spicer and Daren Butler;
editing by Andrew Heavens and Mark Heinrich)
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