Dr. Nejat Tamzok
Note: This article was published on the Eurasia Review on August 17, 2026: https://www.eurasiareview.com/17082026-sports-diplomacy-from-trabzon-to-cairo-the-mohamed-salah-transfer-and-turkiye-egypt-relations/
Egyptian football icon Mohamed Salah’s recent signing of a two-year contract with Trabzonspor following his departure from Liverpool drew widespread coverage in domestic and international media. The 34-year-old player’s move from the Premier League to the Turkish Super Lig—joining a club that has won the league title only once in the past 42 years, despite lucrative offers from Saudi and US clubs—surprised the football world.
However, the scale of the reception in Trabzon, a Black Sea port city in northeastern Türkiye, turned that surprise back on Salah himself, who represents one of the most expensive transfers in Turkish football history.
After finalizing the deal, Salah cut short his vacation on the Greek island of Mykonos to travel to Istanbul and then to Trabzon. An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 supporters greeted him at the airport with flares and fireworks. Fans rushed to official stores to buy jerseys, while season ticket sales spiked. A promotional video produced by Trabzonspor, depicting a local Black Sea woman dreaming of Salah and cooking regional dishes such as “kuymak” and stuffed collard greens for him, generated record engagement on social media.
The intense turnout in Trabzon dominated headlines in Türkiye and abroad. Visibly struck by the atmosphere, Salah stated he had never seen such a reception in his life. Yet the enthusiasm surrounding his arrival contrasts sharply with the trajectory of Türkiye-Egypt bilateral relations over the last 13 years.
Türkiye-Egypt Relations: From Hostility to Pragmatism
Diplomatic ties between the two nations, which share centuries of historical background, entered a severe crisis in 2013. Following the Arab Spring uprisings, Mohamed Morsi was elected president in Egypt’s post-Hosni Mubarak elections. However, the July 3, 2013 military coup brought Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to power, drawing sharp condemnation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Erdoğan labeled Sisi a “tyrant,” while Sisi viewed Türkiye’s explicit anti-coup stance as a threat to his regime’s security and designated Ankara as the primary sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood. Relations were consequently downgraded to the level of chargé d’affaires. In August 2013, Türkiye called on the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Sisi, and the following year Egypt publicly opposed Türkiye’s bid for a UN Security Council seat.
Tensions escalated further starting in 2017 as the two nations backed opposing sides in the Libyan Civil War, with Türkiye supporting the Government of National Accord and Egypt backing Khalifa Haftar’s forces. During the same period, disputes over maritime jurisdictions in the Eastern Mediterranean deepened the divide: Türkiye signed an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) agreement with Libya, while Egypt concluded a similar pact with Greece, placing both countries in rival camps across regional flashpoints.
The thaw in frozen relations began through standard diplomatic channels when consultative foreign ministry talks in May 2021 launched the official normalization process. The key breakthrough, however, was facilitated by sports diplomacy: in November 2022, President Erdoğan and President Sisi met and shook hands at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. This initial contact was followed by high-level visits, with Erdoğan traveling to Cairo in February 2024 and Sisi visiting Ankara in September. The two governments subsequently signed numerous agreements expanding cooperation in trade, investment, and security coordination, shifting ties toward a pragmatic path for both sides.
Even so, bilateral relations can hardly be described as warm or close today.
Salah as a Unifying Symbol and the Limits of Soft Power
Salah’s arrival in Türkiye could serve as a vehicle for cultural soft power within the societal dimension of this normalization process. Rising from a small village in the Nile Delta to the top tier of international football, Salah remains one of the few figures who transcends Egypt’s intense political polarization. During the 2018 Egyptian presidential election—where voter turnout stood at just 41%—the sole official opposition candidate, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, received 656,000 votes, while nearly one million voters wrote “Mohamed Salah” on their ballots as a form of protest. This demonstrated his broad societal legitimacy and unifying presence outside state structures. A similar dynamic emerged during his years in England, where an academic study showed that his presence coincided with a measurable drop in Islamophobic attitudes in the Liverpool area. This finding offers a concrete example of how prominent athletes can soften polarized public perceptions.
Mohamed Salah’s presence in Türkiye fosters public goodwill between both societies and supports Turkey’s soft power capacity in the Eastern Mediterranean. Strategic alignments and boundaries in the regional equation will inevitably remain dictated by hard power calculations and state interests. Nevertheless, sports diplomacy and high-profile figures capable of influencing public sentiment like Salah can ease psychological barriers between Ankara and Cairo, helping soften the ground for ongoing dialogue.
Ankara, Ağustos 2026, enerjipolitik.com