Qatar and Turkey turn against their Brotherhood allies

CAIRO – 28 August 2017: Qatar and Turkey have decided to give up on supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatari officials say their country neither supports fundamentalists nor extremists such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which was outlawed by many Arab states most importantly Egypt. Turkey which hosts dozens of the Brotherhood figures has turned against some of the Brotherhood’s prominent figures recently.

“Qatar does not fund terrorism whatsoever — not groups, and not individuals. Not from afar or from a close distance,” Sheik Saif bin Ahmed Al-Thani, director of the government communications office, said in an interview with The Times’ editorial board and reporters on August 27.

While Sheikh Saif denied his country’s support to the Brotherhood, his remarks admitted strong cooperation with the Tunisian Brotherhood.

“In Tunisia, after the Arab Spring, the government that came into office was from the Muslim Brotherhood. We worked with them once they became the government. We didn’t work with them as a party. We worked with them as a government, to support them,” Sheikh Saif added.

Since the Egyptians revolted against ousted President Mohamed Morsi’s one-year rule in 2013, Turkey has received dozens of Brotherhood figures and embraced many pro-Brotherhood satellite channels that had only one target: to attack Egypt and the Egyptian regime.

Turkey announced it will sue Brotherhood leader Wagdy Ghoneim after he criticized the Tunisian statesmen and politicians over the Tunisian President’s calls about inheritance equality between men and women.

Ghoneim excommunicated President Essebsi and embarrassed the Turkish administration which has embraced him since 2013 after he fled Egypt.

Pro-Brotherhood anchorwomen Ayat Oraby called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to interfere personally to prevent handing over Ghoneim to Egypt.

In a 20-minute video recording, Wagdy Ghoneim begged Turkey not to sue him, after the Turkish Ambassador to Tunisia had vowed his country to sue Ghoneim, following his remarks that implied the excommunication of the Tunisian President and politicians over the presidential initiative calling for inheritance equality between men and women in Tunisia.