CAIRO:The Egyptian and Turkish navies have begun a week-long joint drill in the eastern Mediterranean, an Egyptian military official said on Monday.
Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi, an Islamist elected in June, has sought to deepen ties with Turkey and this month addressed the conference of the ruling Turkish AK Party.
Turkey was one of the first countries to speak out in support of the Egyptian uprising which toppled Hosni Mubarak and led to the Muslim Brotherhood winning power.
The annual drill, which is called Sea of Friendship and began on Sunday, is one of several such joint military manoeuvres between Egypt and Turkey.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said it involved five Egyptian navy units and the Egyptian air force.
The official also said Egypt would hold the “Bright Star” joint exercise with the US military in the second half of 2013. The drill, held every two years, was cancelled in 2011 because of the political turmoil in Egypt. It is seen as a cornerstone of US-Egyptian military relations.
In 2009, the exercise also included forces from Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. On September 30, Egypt signed a deal to loan $1 billion from Turkey, half of the aid package Ankara promised Cairo earlier this month. President Mursi signed the loan agreement with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after giving a speech at Turkey’s ruling AK Party conference. In his conference speech, Mursi spoke of strong regional policy ties with Turkey and praised it for being the first country to back the Egyptian revolution which toppled Hosni Mubarak and led to the Muslim Brotherhood winning power. While officials of Mursi’s Freedom and Justice Party have said they do not look to Turkey and its AK Party as a political model, analysts say Egypt’s new Islamist rulers are taking notes from Turkish party’s success in building a regional economic powerhouse which has delivered strong growth.
