http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/w...am-up-amid-tumult.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
With war on Turkey’s borders, and political and economic troubles in Egypt, the two countries have turned to each other for support, looking to build an alliance that could represent a significant geopolitical shift in the Middle East prompted by the Arab Spring, uniting two countries with regional ambitions each headed by parties with roots in political Islam.
Egypt and Turkey are considering plans to lift visa restrictions and recently completed joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea. Turkey has offered a host of measures to bolster Egypt’s economy, including a $2 billion aid package. There is even talk of Turkey’s helping Egypt to restore its Ottoman-era buildings. A wider-ranging partnership is expected to be announced in the coming weeks when the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party shares an Islamist pedigree with Egypt’s leadership, goes to Cairo.
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Referring to Turkey and Egypt, Shadi Hamid, the director of research at the Brookings Doha Center, said, “Relations are warmer today than they have been in recent years, decades perhaps.” He added, “Turkey has become the effective leader of the Arab world, even though it’s not Arab.”