Egyptian president Abdelfattah Al Sisi has paid a visit to Ankara, meeting Turkish president Erdoğan for official talks, 12 years after Morsi was ousted by Sisi.
17 inter-governmental cooperation agreements were reportedly signed. There was no mention of procurement of Turkish weapons of by the Egyptian government. Sources close to Turkish government said sale of drones to Egypt was already on agenda. Egypt is also interested in Hisar class offshore patrol vessels and modernization of armored vehicles, sources say.
Analysts say cooperation in defense industry among Muslim countries is a necessity as almost all of them face difficulties with western suppliers. Assoc. Prof. Ibrahim Karataş, an international relations expert, told Straturka that “Only Türkiye can sell advanced weapons to Muslim countries, particularly those in the Middle East, without any pre-conditions. Think of American government, for example. It will hardly sell sophisticated weapons to Egypt and other regional countries as Israel will oppose it due to its security concerns.”
Karataş adds that “Besides buying, Muslim states should join forces and sources to co-produce weapons such as jets, helicopters, missiles and so on. By this way, they will not possess only weapons but also know how, which is priceless. Such a cooperation will also lower likely tensions and boost cooperation among mentioned states”.
