Ottoman Island's Return to Turkey Sparks Sudan-Egypt Tension

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 6 January 2018)


A piece of the Ottoman Empire from 1517 to 1885.

In late December, during President Erdoğan's visit to Khartoum,
Sudanese President Ömer El Beşir assigned Sevakin Island, which
was once a strategic Ottoman base on the Red Sea, to Turkey, and
this has sparked tension between Egypt and Sudan.  When media
outlets in Egypt that back President Abdülfettah el Sisi began to
target Sudan on this matter, Khartoum recalled its ambassador in
Cairo to reassess relations.

Although the Sudanese Foreign Ministry did not explain the reason
behind the ambassador's recall, it is thought that the diplomatic
tension has been caused by the assignment of Sevakin Island to
Turkey.  Egyptian media has claimed that Qatar is behind the
Sevakin Island project and that during Erdoğan's visit to Khartoum
the Qatar Chief of Staff was there, too. 





Following Erdoğan's visit, the head of the press relations in Sudan's
embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, El-Mutez Ahmed İbrahim, issued
an announcement relating to the agreement between Sudan and
Turkey to rebuild Sevakin Island's port, saying that the agreement
did not threaten the security of Arab countries, nor was there any
relationship to the ongoing Halayib and Şelatin matter (bilateral
dispute about the two countries' Red Sea border area).  Nevertheless,
last week, Egypt's Religious Affair Minister participated in Friday
prayers in Halayib and the event was carried live on TV.


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