Turkey’s Erdogan shakes hands with Egypt’s Sisi at World Cup

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan shook hands with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the sidelines of the World Cup in Qatar on Sunday, a photo from Turkey’s presidency showed.

Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu Agency said Erdogan briefly met, shook hands and talked to Sisi and other leaders, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan.

There was no immediate comment from Egypt’s presidency.

Ankara’s ties with Cairo have been strained since Sisi, then Egypt’s army chief, led the 2013 ouster of Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was strongly supported by Erdogan.

The two countries started consultations between senior foreign ministry officials last year amid a push by Turkey to ease tensions with Egypt, the UAE, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Egyptian officials had expressed caution over any rapprochement, although Erdogan said in July there was no reason high-level talks should not take place.

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Alexander Smith)