Egypt recognized Kosovo only verbally, without any paper or note, in June 2013, three days before the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood, Politika daily writes today.

According to the daily, it represents a rather weak form of recognition, and even the then Ministry of Foreign Affairs was against such decision, adding there was no exchange on notes between the Egyptian and Kosovo foreign ministries, and the recognition was made only through a statement of the then spokesperson of the ministry, Badr Abdel Aty. “All this happened on 26 June 2013, three days before the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood. This verbal recognition was a result of some internal calculations within the Muslim Brotherhood, but also external pressure they were exposed to,” an unnamed source from diplomatic cycles told Politika daily, commenting on information that Egypt could consider the withdrawal of Kosovo recognition. A usual way to recognize a state includes the exchange of notes on establishing diplomatic relations and opening of embassies, none of which happened in the case of Kosovo. Asked to comment if Egypt could withdraw the decision on Kosovo recognition, Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dacic, briefly told Politika, “we shall see”. At the same time, Egyptian Ambassador in Belgrade, Ezzeldin Fahmy Mahmoud Fahmy said the Embassy does not have official information from the Foreign Ministry, respectively from the Egyptian Government and that they “cannot rely on information published in some newspapers”. If Egypt, in any way would declare the verbal recognition as void, it would certainly be the news that would echo in the world public, as Egypt is a particularly influential Arab state and at the same time it would be the most influential state that has decided to make such a move, Politika concluded.