Ashraf AboArafe
While hosting the program “Ala Masaaulayty/ ‘On My Responsibility’ ” of Sada el-Balad TV for the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Saleh Mutlu Şen, the Ambassador made striking statements on various topics, starting from bilateral relations to the Palestinian issue.. This comes as Turkey celebrates its 101st National Day.. The most prominent points that came in the statements of Ambassador Saleh Mutlu Şen are as follows:
Saleh Mutlu Şen, the Turkish Ambassador in Cairo, stressed that the mutual visits of President Sisi and President Erdogan have strong political importance for the world, and President Erdogan broke protocol in order to receive President Sisi in Turkey. President Sisi was received at the airport, and in addition to this, the two presidents took one car from the airport to the presidential complex, and both the Egyptian and Turkish flags were hung on it. He added, “President Erdogan appreciates and respects President Sisi, and Turkey currently has many factories in Egypt.”
He continued, “We have a Turkish company that has more than one industrial zone in Egypt, and 500 Turkish factories will be established in 6th of October City with a workforce capacity of 25,000 citizens, and 500 factories will be established in the Turkish industrial zone in the new administrative capital. Egypt also encouraged Turkish investors to come to it and provided strong incentives that encouraged Turkish investors to come to Egypt.”
He explained that the Egyptian state provided a top-level infrastructure for foreign investors, and the Egyptian state provides great facilities to attract investors and encouraged the Turks, and experiences will be exchanged between Egypt and Turkey in various fields.
He added, “We signed 17 agreements between Egypt and Turkey in many different fields, and cooperation will take place between them in various cultural fields. We also agreed to cooperate in various educational fields, noting that the highest percentage of students learning the Turkish language in the world is in Egypt, in addition to An agreement was signed between them for cooperation in the field of higher education. She submitted a proposal to establish branches of Ankara and Istanbul Universities in Egypt.
Ambassador Shen pointed out that the strategic cooperation council agreement between Egypt and Turkey will contribute to increasing cooperation between the two countries, and the foreign ministers of Egypt and Turkey will talk about the necessary means to increase cooperation in all fields between the two countries.
Saleh Mutlu Shen added, saying: “I am proud to be with the media figure Ahmed Moussa because the Egyptian people are interested in following your program, and I visited a number of shrines of the Prophet’s family such as Sayyid al-Badawi in Tanta, and the Egyptian people love the Turkish people greatly, and we must always remember the love between the Egyptian and Turkish peoples.”
As the Turkish ambassador in Cairo added, industrial and trade relations between Egypt and Turkey are witnessing great development, and we must help each other because this is the right of brothers. The Egyptian people helped Turkey in the earthquake crisis that struck Kahramanmaras, and Egypt moved immediately to help Turkey in the earthquake crisis, and former Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Turkey during the earthquake crisis and supported us, explaining that President Sisi provided great support to Turkey in the earthquake crisis .
Regarding foreign policy, Salih Mutlu Şen confirmed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that Turkey is moving based on national foreign policy, explaining that Turkey has moves with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League. Turkey always says “the world is bigger than five”
He added that Turkey has beneficial relations with different countries, and we have requested to join BRICS, and this request does not conflict with our request to join the European Union, as we have strategic relations with America and Russia, and Turkey has strong weight in NATO, in addition to its major role in the Middle East files and its support for the Palestinian people in their cause, and we requested to invite Egypt and the Arab countries to attend to participate in the NATO meeting to discuss the Palestinian issue, considering that both countries support Palestine in its position and support the establishment of the Palestinian state.
Ambassador Salih Mutlu Şen said, “We do not have an ambassador in Israel, and we are satisfied with only a charge d’affaires there, and we have cut off economic and trade relations with Israel, and we have stipulated two basic conditions, which are a permanent ceasefire for the return of relations again between The two states. And the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people. Saleh Mutlu Shen added: We have no problem with Israel, but we want a ceasefire, because we support the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state on the borders of June 4, 1967, and we demand the necessity of establishing a Palestinian state.
Saleh Mutlu Shen, the Turkish ambassador to Cairo, stressed the necessity of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, saying: “No one wants war in the region, and Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon, and now Israel has entered Lebanon and is targeting more civilians.”
He continued: America supports Israel in its plans, and the latter is carrying out US operations in the region, stressing that Turkey rejects any military operations that lead to a regional war.
Saleh Mutlu Shen explained that Iran entered the war against Israel, and carried out several offensive operations against it, and Israel also carried out attacks on Iran, and military operations must be limited in order to prevent war in the region, and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, does not want a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
He also stressed that Egypt has made a great effort In order to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, but Netanyahu wants the war to continue, and Israel wants to displace the Palestinian people from Gaza, but Egypt has confronted these plans.
As the Turkish ambassador pointed out, Turkey supports Egypt’s position rejecting the displacement of the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip, explaining that President Sisi is making a great effort to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
Saleh Mutlu Shan added that the 10-day initiative proposed by Egypt is good for direct negotiations and we hope to reach a ceasefire fire in Gaza, and Egypt is moving strongly to support the Palestinian people.
Salih Mutlu Şen, the Turkish ambassador to Cairo, also confirmed that Turkey supports the trial of Israeli leaders in international courts for their crimes, explaining that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan supports this decision. Ambassador Salih Mutlu Şen added that Israeli leaders have committed massacres against the Palestinian people since October 7 of last year.
The Turkish ambassador to Cairo thanked Egypt for its full support for the Palestinian cause, explaining that Turkey supports Egypt’s position regarding the Philadelphi Corridor.
Saying, “We support Egypt’s position regarding the Palestinian Rafah crossing that there are no Israeli soldiers on it, but Israel prevents the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, and there must be international pressure for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian Rafah crossing because the occupying state is placing major obstacles to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.”
The Turkish ambassador to Cairo, Salih Mutlu Şen, also confirmed that Egypt Turkey and Egypt have a clear position to return smuggled antiquities to their original location, and they are interested in recovering smuggled antiquities. The key to the Kaaba was returned to Egypt because we discovered that it was smuggled to Turkey.
Ambassador Saleh Mutlu Shen also explained that Ankara supports Dr. Khaled El-Enany, Egypt’s candidate for UNESCO, because Turkey is aware of the greatness and civilization of Egypt, adding: “Turkey is aware that Egypt’s civilization comes first, then the rest of the civilizations, and Turkey supports tourism in Egypt, and tourism companies in Turkey will work to attract tourists to Egypt, and the number of Turkish tourists to Egypt must be increased, stressing that Egypt has beautiful modern cities such as New Alamein. Egypt has a top-level infrastructure, and air travel between the two countries must be increased to increase the number of tourists.
Ambassador Shen pointed out that the volume of Turkish investments in Egypt is 3 billion dollars, and there are 100,000 Egyptian workers working in Turkish investments in Egypt, and trade exchange with Egypt will reach 9 billion dollars by the end of this year. This number will rise to 15 billion dollars within 15 years, then to 50 billion dollars within 50 years and 100 billion dollars within 100 years.
Ambassador Shen in Cairo praised the Turkish projects in Egypt, including the Beko factory, saying: “We are proud to establish Turkish factories in Egypt.”
He continued: The Egyptians succeeded in establishing factories for Turkish investors with high quality, as Turkish investors leave the management to the Egyptians because they have the tools for success.
The Ras El-Hikma project, which was agreed upon between the Egyptian and Emirati governments, pumped $35 billion into the Egyptian economy. It is a very important project for Egypt, which must have a huge tourist city. The Ras El-Hikma project will also be implemented at the highest level, and this great project will contribute to attracting tourists from all countries of the world. Turkey can contribute to the Ras El-Hikma project in some way, and Turkish companies are interested in the Ras El-Hikma project.
We support the Turkish people coming to spend their vacation in Sharm El-Sheikh and Cairo throughout the year, because we want them to see the ancient Egyptian monuments and learn about the Egyptian civilization. Egyptians love to visit Türkiye, and enjoy eating Turkish food and doing business. Shopping there
The Turkish ambassador to Cairo explained that the target is to increase the number of tourists from Turkey to Egypt and vice versa to 500,000 tourists within 5 years, and it is expected that the number of tourists will increase after that to one million tourists for both countries.
Salih Mutlu Shen, the Turkish ambassador to Cairo, spoke about the details of the beginning of his work in Egypt, and the stages of his professional career until he reached the position of the Turkish ambassador to Cairo.
Ambassador Saleh Mutlu Shen said, “During my university stage, I always read Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper, and I always felt since I was young that Egypt is a big country.”
The Turkish ambassador continued: “I grew up listening to the beautiful voice of Sheikh Abdul Basit Abdul Samad in reciting the Qur’an.”
The Turkish ambassador to Cairo added: “I always wished to work in Egypt, and now my dream has come true, as the Turkish people love the Egyptian people very much, and there are always strong ties between the two peoples.”
Salih Mutlu Shen continued: “I love eating beans with local bread a lot, and I cannot I can’t resist it, just as I love Umm Ali and I can’t resist it either. He concluded his speech by saying: “I am proud to be appointed as Turkey’s ambassador to Egypt, and I love Sada El Balad network and I thank them for hosting me today, as they have a great place in my heart.
