Analysis: Brotherhood stumbling block in Cairo-Ankara bond

CAIRO – 24 December 2017: Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi party, who took up office as Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, deceived the Germans, eluding them with demagogic slogans about the need to confront the European humiliation of Germany in the First World War, and about the possibility of achieving financial prosperity.

Because history repeats itself, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been following up Hitler’s footsteps, but this time Erdogan has tried not to deceive only the Turkish, but also to brain-wash Arabs and extremist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

Erdogan vs. Hitler
Immediately after Hitler seized power, he sought to control all authorities in Germany and kill all his opponents. He became the Chancellor and the General Commander of the Armed Forces who is controlling over the parliament and all the German provinces.

When he got rid of all his rivals inside, he exploited massive media means to militarize the German economy and begin wars to seize most of Europe’s lands before his end in 1945 after he destroyed his country and many other countries in three continents.


Supporters of Erdogan are scattered shots in the square Taksim Istanbul on 16 July 2016-Reuters

The destruction caused after the Second World War would have been prevented or stopped if major European countries would notice early dangers of the rise of a tyrant in Germany.

Erdogan breaches all European values through insisting on exploiting incumbent regional circumstances to his favor and to build Erdogan’s extremist dictatorship.

After the failed coup by some factions within the Turkish army, the fake Ottoman Sultan showed his real face and started to eliminate all his opponents in the military institution and all the state institutions indeed.

On Friday, state-run Anadolu news agency said that 15 senior military officers were arrested in an investigation into the network of a U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who Ankara accuses of orchestrating last year's attempted coup.

So far, Erdogan arrested nearly 50,000 persons. He took advantage of those recent events to mistreat his political rival Fethullah Gulen who had chosen the U.S. as an exile. In fact, Erdogan submitted an official demand to Washington to hand Gulen over.

Some 150,000 people have also been suspended or dismissed in a crackdown which rights groups say has been used as a pretext to muzzle dissent but which the government says has been necessary due to the security threats Turkey faces, according to Reuters.

Cairo-Ankara relations
Both the Turkish prime minister and the foreign minister expressed Turkey’s desire of enhancing relations with Egypt several times.

Egypt’s national paper Akhbar al-Youm interviewed Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry as he denied speculations about Russian mediation between Egypt and Turkey, stressing that the Egyptian and Turkish people have many things in common.

"Egypt hopes to overcome tensions with Turkey on bases of respect of countries’ sovereignty without interfering into each other's domestic affairs," Shoukry told Akhbar al-Youm newspaper on Saturday.


Turkish President Erdogan (R) and Egypt's Brotherhood ousted President Mohamed Morsi (L)- Reuters

Since the ouster of the Brotherhood-affiliated Morsi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish statesmen have made statements criticizing the Egyptian authorities and interfering in Egypt’s domestic affairs, according to local media reports.

"Turkish and Egyptian people are closely attached to each other through mutual heritage and marriage relations," Shoukry added.

On November 23, 2013, Egypt expelled the Turkish ambassador from Cairo and downgraded diplomatic ties with Ankara.

Turkey is "attempting to influence public opinion against Egyptian interests, [and has] supported meetings of organizations that seek to create instability in the country," the Foreign Ministry’s statement said in November 2013.

Later, Ankara took counter measures following the expulsion of the Turkish ambassador from Cairo. Turkey summoned Egypt’s charge d'affaires. Ankara also declared the Egyptian ambassador, currently out of the country, persona non grata.

Early November 2013, Egypt's Foreign Ministry condemned comments from Turkish officials about ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. The Egyptian government accused Turkey of interfering into Egypt’s domestic affairs and falsifying news, MENA reported.

On November 5, the Turkish Foreign Ministry urged Cairo to release Morsi, who has been held in detention pending trial since July 2013.

Turkish interference in Egypt’s domestic affairs
In November, General Prosecutor Nabil Ahmed Sadeq ordered the arrest and imprisonment of 29 defendants for 15 days pending investigations by the Supreme State Security Prosecution on charges of conspiring with Turkey with the aim to harm national interests, joining terrorist organizations, conducting overseas calls without licensing, money laundering, and illegal currency trading.

Many Brotherhood leaders fled to Turkey after the June 30 revolution where they have broadcasted TV shows from Turkey to criticize and falsify news about Egypt. Since December 2013, the Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist group in Egypt.


Turkey's Erdogan Gives Four-Finger 'R4BIA' Salute, in Signal to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. Reuters

Turkey has been forcefully siding with the MB; thus mutual relations have been strained since the ouster of ex-MB affiliated President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

It’s no longer a secret that the Brotherhood issue is the essential problem between Cairo and Ankara. That was obviously clear in public criticisms made by President Erdogan and his welcoming to Brotherhood leaders who fled Egypt. Turkey provided the Brotherhood with media platform that have been criticizing the regime after June 30.

As a response, Cairo responded with several procedures such as media attack, removal of the Turkish ambassador and cancellation of the RO-RO agreement which was transferring the Turkish exports to the Egyptian ports and the Gulf.

Moreover, Egypt opposed the Turkish presence in many international occasions, and allied with Cyprus and Greece against Turkey, including adopting an opposite stance to Ankara regarding the Armenian massacres file.

Turkey claims that it adopts the zero-enemy policy which relies on not making troubles with neighboring countries, although there are no signs of reconsidering Turkey’s stance towards the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood members may be allowed to stay in Turkey, but without exercising their media counter role against the Egyptian regime; same as the UK example. If this happens, Cairo’s role to respond will come. Many observers doubt that this scenario would take place at the present moment, but let’s wait and see.

Brotherhood end
The Brotherhood members are unwelcome guests in Egypt, who consider themselves owners of right without consideration for the circumstances of hosting countries. After residing in Turkey, they did not suffice with the big support of establishing television channels and websites, and holding conferences, they also practiced their presence in the local media of sympathizing countries. We suddenly saw them intensively on screens of channels owned by hosting countries and their new agencies, which became a direct party in the war.


Members of the Muslim Brotherhood arrested in Egypt await the verdict of a jury in Cairo in June 2015-Reuters

This reflects the scary reputation of the ideological organization. It seeks to dominate education as well as media and social networking means in countries that have been tolerant with its presence, such as Gulf countries.

Some might believe we are accelerating the announcement of the death of the Brotherhood organization because the Turks have not announced it yet, but there are enough official and other statements that all confirm Turkey's start of imposing tight measures on the leaders and activities of the organization inside the country.

When the Egyptian-Turkish understanding is activated, the Brotherhood will have lost the last key stop for them. They will only have to resort to Europe, where they will melt.

The most suitable resort for them is Iran, as they have been its allies since Khomeini reached power there in the late 1970s. However, if they did, this step would be the end of the 79-year-old group.