ANKARA
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu highlighted Egypt's importance for its region and said his country objects to the current 'coup-state' Egypt is in, during his visit to Kuwait.
Cavusoglu held a joint press conference with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah on Sunday.
When asked about how Egypt's renewing its relations with Gulf countries would affect Turkey, Cavusoglu said Egypt is an important country for Muslim world, Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula.
"We object the current state Egypt is in today. The current administration in Egypt is harmful to the country's stability and security," Cavusoglu said.
"If Egypt reverses the current situation they are in, we will fix our relations with them too," the foreign minister said.
Turkey had put forth conditions indicating that normalization of relations with coup-ruled Egypt would be unlikely in the immediate future, unless the country goes back to "full democracy."
- Turkey's relations with Kuwait
Cavusoglu also hailed the relations between Kuwait and Turkey, saying that the two countries’ political ties are "perfect."
"Kuwait does not leave out the regional problems' humanitarian effects," Cavusoglu said. "Especially Kuwait's role on the resolving the Gulf countries' problems is applaudable."
The foreign minister also underscored the economic relations between the countries, said the trade volume between Kuwait and Turkey needs to be "as perfect as the political relations."
"We would like to boost the trade volume to a billion dollars from $625,000," he said.
The foreign minister said mutual investments and Turkish firms’ projects in Kuwait are playing a great role in achieving the desired boost in trade volume.
Cavusoglu stated that Turkey has strategic dialogue mechanisms with the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), and said Turkey would like to hold a strategic cooperation meeting during the upcoming sixth summit of the GCC, when Qatar will be the host country.
The foreign minister also mentioned the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). He said the group threatens regional stability and security and it needs to be dealt with.
"We are on the same page with Kuwait on regional issues. We will act together to overcome the dangers lying ahead," he said.
Cavusoglu had earlier been received by Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Marzouq Al-Ghanim, the speaker for Kuwaiti National Assembly.
