Brushing aside name-calling and accusations of the past, the Turkish and Egyptian presidents shared an enthusiastic handshake on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and followed it with claims of a “new era” in the ties that have been strained for the last decade.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s spokesman, Bassam Rady, said late Monday that the handshake between the two presidents “would be the beginning of the development of bilateral relations.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan echoed the same tone on his way back from Qatar, saying further actions would follow to rebuild relations between Cairo and Ankara. “The historical ties between the Turkish and Egyptian peoples are very important for us. What prevents it from being so again? We have provided proof of our good intentions,” he told journalists on the plane.

But for many experts, it is doubtful whether the jovial photo is a harbinger of a quick rapprochement between the two estranged Middle Eastern heavyweights. Despite recent efforts of normalization, ties between Ankara and Cairo still carry the strains of a nosedive in 2013 after the Egyptian military overthrew Mohammed Morsi, president and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party (AKP) has ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, repeatedly attacked Sisi as a putschist and tyrant, leading Egypt to announce that it scaled back its diplomatic relations with Turkey to the level of charge d'affaires.

“The photo of the two presidents shaking hands is high in news value but low in consequential value,” Safak Gokturk, Turkey’s former ambassador to Cairo, told Al-Monitor. Gokturk pointed out that despite Ankara’s efforts, the rapprochement with Egypt moved slower than any other regional normalization process, such as with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel.