Egypt has temporarily suspended talks on the normalization of ties with Turkey, according to a report in the Saudi-owned and Dubai-based Al Arabiya news channel over the weekend.
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The move also includes an immediate freeze of security cooperation.
One of the reasons for the move is Turkey's failure to quickly answer Cairo's demand it immediately act to remove Turkish mercenaries from Egypt's conflict-ridden neighbor to the west, Libya, among other things.
In an attempt to ease tensions, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry to wish him a happy Ramadan ahead of the monthlong holiday.
The situation is a complex one for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Around one month ago, his government began to restrict Muslim Brotherhood activity in Turkey, ordering Istanbul-based TV channels affiliated with the Islamist group to immediately stop their criticism of Egypt.
While Turkey has committed to implementing additional steps by the end of Ramadan to placate Egypt, Cairo has demanded immediate action on this front.
While Turkey is looking to sign a maritime border agreement with Egypt, according to a report in Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, Cairo sees Ankara's recent steps as far from sufficient. The recent halt in talks is due to the Turks moving to implement the Egyptian demand two senior Muslim Brotherhood members, Yahya Musa and Alaa al-Samahi, be immediately extradited, in two separate stages.
The Egyptians have refused to hold officials talks with the Turks in Cairo ahead of April.
In the meantime, Turkish authorities have temporarily revoked the Turkish citizenship of several senior Muslim Brotherhood figures.
According to Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, an expert on Turkish politics and foreign policy at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, Turkey's support for the Muslim Brotherhood is rooted both in ideology and "what it sees as vital coordination with Qatar."
Yanarock said, "Qatar and Turkey are known as two states that support the Muslim Brotherhood movement. At the same time, Turkey needs Qatar financially, and as a result, it cannot make an independent decision without Qatar.
"From an ideological standpoint, Erdogan was shocked by a recent letter sent by 103 former Turkish admirals [in which they warned Turkey's military was undergoing a process of Islamization] and he emphasized military coup culture. If he now takes steps against the Muslim Brotherhood, within Turkey, they will say he's taking steps against the culture of military coups although outside of the country he is normalizing ties with Egypt under [President Abdel Fattah] el-Sissi. He could be portrayed as two-faced on a policy level," he said.
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