Chief of Turkish General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt, accompanied by his spouse, Filiz, arrived in Cairo on Monday for the three-day visit.As of yesterday, Büyükanıt had talks with both Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Defense Minister Tantawi. Following his lengthy meeting with Tantawi, Büyükanıt said he was pleased with the meeting, describing it as "constructive and warm."
"Cooperation between the Turkish and Egyptian militaries will increase from now on," Büyükanıt told reporters, noting that both the Turkish and Egyptian sides had the will to further cooperation and that considerable progress has already been made.
Concerning the meeting between Mubarak and Büyükanıt, a spokesperson for the Egyptian state ministry said that both bilateral relations between Turkey and Egypt and Middle East affairs were on the agenda. Büyükanıt spoke with Mubarak about Turkey's ongoing operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq and elaborated on Turkey's position regarding military cooperation with Israel, the spokesperson said, noting that the top issue was military cooperation between Turkey and Egypt.
Israel has close diplomatic ties with Turkey, one of the few Muslim countries with which it has relations, and has been a key ally of the Jewish state since 1996, when the two countries signed a military cooperation deal. Turkey is one of four Muslim countries that have friendly ties with Israel -- the others are Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania.
Responding to questions on whether Turkey would send more troops to Afghanistan, Büyükanıt said he had nothing new to say on the issue. Büyükanıt had earlier voiced Turkey's opposition to sending more troops to Afghanistan when the army was already engaged with the PKK.
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