Turkey-Egypt relations: Dynamics changing after the Arab Spring

Egypt that come under the rule of Ottoman in 1517 met with Turks with the spread of Islam to the region. The rupture in relations between Egypt and Turkey during the reign of Mehmet Ali Pasha in the 19th century turned into a definite separation with the British occupation and Turkey accepted the new status of Egypt with the Treaty of Lausanne. Relations that has started in the republic period never reached the desired level and the conjubture that emerged after the WWII brought Turkey and Egypt face to face. However mutual interest between the Countries lead to get them closer. After Justice and Development Party has come to power and changed the approach to the Middle East, Economic relationship between the Countries has developed indeed. Turkey that has supported the Arap Spring has desired to be main actor in the region. Together with Morsi has come to power as a resuld of democratic elections, Turkey and Egypt relations has reached the highest level ever in terms of politics and economy. However, Turkey reacted harshly to the military coup that followed and relations deteriorated after 2013. While Egypt is a natural leader of the Arab world, Turkey is positioned as a leading country in both Central Asia and the Middle East after the Cold War. Turkey's rise as a regional leader was perceived as a threat in the countries of the region. For this reason, the coup process in Egypt was supported by the Gulf countries. While the Arab Spring process caused great losses to Turkey and it led to change Turkey's approach for Middle East, mutual interests created new opportunities for Egypt and Turkey to get closer again. In this thesis, Turkey's changing Middle East policy and Egypt's foreign policy will be analyzed comparatively. The reasons why the relations between the two countries or the relations between the Middle East countries do not turn into a cooperation environment will be tried to be evaluated from a theoretical perspective.