Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Casablanca – Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune will head to Turkey today for a three-day state visit, where he is anticipated to meet Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s President, only days after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu declared Morocco’s territorial integrity from Marrakech.
During a joint press conference with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita on Wednesday, the top Turkish diplomat underlined Ankara’s long-standing stance on Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces.
“I would like to reiterate Turkey’s principled position in favor of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of countries, and reaffirm Turkey’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of brotherly Morocco,” Cavusoglu said.
The meeting between Bourita and Cavusoglu took place in Marrakech on the margins of the Global Coalition against Daesh Ministerial Meeting.
Following Turkey‘s official support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan, the Turkish embassy in Algeria tried to ease the shock on Algeria by announcing on Thursday that Ankara’s support for a political solution to the Sahara region issue was based on international agreements.
According to a statement the Algerian presidency issued yesterday, Tebboune’s visit to Turkey is the Algerian president’s first visit to Turkey since taking office at the end of 2019.
Following Tebboune’s election as president in January 2020, President Erdogan was the first president to visit Algeria.
The Turkish president had invited Tebboune to visit Turkey as soon as possible in 2021, but he did not receive a response until three days after Cavusoglu reiterated his country’s support for Morocco’s territorial integrity.
During Tebboune’s visit, the two leaders will address “regional and international issues of common interest” while also focusing their discussions “on bilateral relations, and ways to sustain and expand them in a way that contributes to achieving the interests of the two brotherly people,” noted the Algerian presidency’s statement.
