Sudan denies establishing Turkish military base in Suakin Island

CAIRO - 8 February 2018: Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour denied Thursday the Sudanese leadership had any intention to establish a Turkish military base in Suakin Island, affirming that "it is a pure Sudanese property for Sudanese people only."

"There is neither an intention to establish a Turkish base in Suakin, or any other place in Sudan," Ghandour stated during a joint press conference with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Thursday.

Ghandour affirmed that the island was subject to talks between Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Khartoum on December 24, where he proposed to his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir to restore the island's old houses, to utilize it as a tourist destination.

Earlier today, Foreign Minister Shoukry met with his Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Ghandour, alongside the respestive chiefs of intelligence, where they discussed Egypt and Sudan's mutual interests.

In a press conference held immediately after the meeting, Shoukry stated that the meetings aimed to eliminate all differences between the two countries and to reach consensual solutions on all issues under debate.

Suakin is a port city in northeast Sudan on the Red Sea. The port was conquered by Turkish (Ottoman) sultan Selim I in 1517. Late Khedive of Egypt and Sudan Ismail Pasha received Suakin from the Ottomans in 1865.