Türkiye has been invited to the foreign minister council of the Arab League for the first time in 13 years, highlighting the culmination of Ankara’s efforts to normalize relations that soured after the Arab Spring.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is set to travel to the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Tuesday to attend the biannual meeting, Turkish diplomatic sources said Monday.
The 162nd council meeting will tackle key topics like Palestine, which also holds priority in Türkiye’s foreign policy. Fidan is expected to address the council on Turkish-Arab relations, regional issues and the war in Gaza.
The invitation reflects the growing interest in Ankara’s regional role and efforts to repair ties with Arab nations like Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, according to the diplomatic sources.
Türkiye’s developing and diversifying relations with Arab countries create new opportunities for concrete cooperation for the future based on mutual benefit and solutions for regional conflicts, sources added.
Following the 2011 Arab Spring, ideological differences and rival foreign policy objectives directed Ankara and several regional states like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Syria, Egypt and UAE in different directions.
Türkiye’s support for popular movements linked to the Muslim Brotherhood initially spurred the break with Arab regimes that saw the Brotherhood’s political vision as a threat. During the process, Türkiye and Gulf states supported opposite sides in many regional conflicts.
The Arab League also frequently condemned Türkiye’s military operations in Syria, Libya and Somalia where Ankara is either fighting PKK terrorists or lending military support to internationally recognized governments in internal conflicts.
Fidan himself led a policy of rapprochement under orders from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with Gulf states in 2020 when he was helming Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), promoting long-term mutual benefits in cooperation and trade, which remained intact and only surged during the past decade.
Since 2022, Ankara sought to repair ties and saw success with several former rivals, including normalization with Egypt as recently as this month.
According to a source familiar with the Arab League summit protocols speaking to the Middle East Eye, all member states need to consent to Türkiye’s participation, including Syria.
Despite recent unsuccessful normalization talks, Damascus appeared to accept Fidan’s presence at the summit.
Fidan’s inclusion in the summit followed Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s first visit to Türkiye in 12 years last week, aimed at fully resuming bilateral ties.
The source noted that Cairo played a key role in facilitating Fidan’s participation, as did recent Turkish diplomatic efforts like the foreign minister’s meetings with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and ambassadors of Arab countries.
Consequently, the Arab League dissolved its committee charged with exploring “Türkiye’s intervention in the internal affairs of the Arab states” and also dropped the related proposed topic of debate for the summit.
For the first time in years, the 22-member league did not criticize Türkiye in the summit declaration.
Ankara has mended fences with the UAE and Saudi Arabia in recent years. Though reconciliation efforts with Syria lag, as the issue of Turkish troops and Syrian refugees remains far and large unsolved, Erdoğan has recently said he may invite Syrian leader Bashar Assad to Türkiye soon, highlighting Türkiye’s willingness to “make friends with all its neighbors.”
Türkiye is also part of a contact group created by the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which pursue diplomatic efforts to resolve the Palestine-Israel conflict.
