Egyptian authorities have started to impose a ban on their citizens’ travel to Turkey without a special permit in order to prevent recruitment to the terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Egyptian airport officials said the new ban applies to all Egyptians between the ages of 18 and 40 who want to travel to Turkey.
Egyptians in the affected age range need to apply for security clearance in Cairo before their departure to Turkey. According to the Egyptian authorities, over 200 people have been barred in only one day, the AP reported on Saturday.
Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman Hany Abdel-Latif said the new measure was an effort to prevent Egyptian citizens from traveling through Turkey to join militant groups in Syria. According to the estimates of Egyptian security officials, hundreds of Egyptians are fighting alongside militants in Syria and Iraq.
ISIL militants took control of large parts of Iraq and Syria this past year, making swift advances in the region. The US, meanwhile, has worked on forming a strong coalition of countries against ISIL. There are around 60 countries so far that have joined the US-led coalition against the extremist group.
Turkey is one of the coalition partners but is often criticized for its lack of enthusiasm to contribute more. Turkish officials complain that there is no comprehensive strategy to defeat ISIL and insist on removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power as part of eliminating the threat stemming from ISIL.
Turkey has been accused of turning a blind eye to the foreign fighters coming from various countries and using Turkish territory to cross into Iraq and Syria to join the ISIL militants. A high-level European Union delegation will be arriving in Turkey this week to push the country to do more to prevent the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria.
Turkey and Egypt have been at odds since the summer of 2013, following the ousting of the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi — a member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
Turkey’s relationship with Egypt has been derailed due to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s open support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered a terrorist organization by Egypt.
President Erdoğan has been taking every chance to criticize the former military leader and current president of the country, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The dispute started with Erdoğan’s furious remarks targeting Western and Arab nations over the military coup that ousted Morsi in July 2013.
After having reciprocally expelled ambassadors with Egypt in November of last year due to then-Prime Minister Erdoğan’s harsh criticism towards the military regime in the North African country, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials tried to mend ties with Egypt recently through a meeting in New York on the sidelines of a United Nations summit in October.
But the planned meeting between the Turkish foreign minister and his Egyptian counterpart was canceled by the Egyptian side after Erdoğan’s highly critical remarks about Egyptian President el-Sisi at the UN General Assembly.