By Abdulmonem Mostafa
Al-Madina newspaper
During the dinner party of Hussein Awni, Turkey’s ambassador to Cairo, to honor Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister said he had passed by the Tahrir Square several times during his visit to Egypt. “Every time I pass by the Tahrir Square I can’t help but wonder how this square and its events will go down in history and how they will be remembered.”
This is a simple question, yet frightening because the answer might take a long time before it comes. History might view the Tahrir Square events as a revolution that has made sweeping changes in Egypt and hammered another nail into the coffin of the relationship between the general public and the regime. It is a revolution that laid foundation for establishing a modern democratic state. Also, history might, God forbid, view the revolution as a passing phase that will end and leave behind decades of new tyranny and endless disappointments.
The thousands of people who took to the streets of Cairo to welcome Erdogan can decide how to answer his question about how history would remember the Tahrir Square. For the first time in decades, the Egyptian public decides and chooses. However, public opinion has become a source of worry and danger because of its level of awareness and the level of awareness of those who run the mass media. The latter has found no limit on what they say and no longer wait for orders from the higher ups as they did before.
One of the most dangerous factors in the crisis and a source of legitimate fear is the mix-up between dream and reality, between what can be achieved and sheer wishes, even if these wishes were sincere.
For example, why did thousands of Egyptians took to the streets to welcome Erdogan? The answer is spontaneous admiration. Erdogan’s actions speak louder than words and his reputation precedes him in Egypt. It was he who asked the Israel ambassador to leave Turkey and it was he who downgraded Turkey’s level of relations with Israel. He also promised to send relief ships again to the Gaza Strip under the protection of the Turkish navy.
It is natural for Egyptians to admire him, but what is not natural is to project Turkey as if it would liberate Palestine by the stroke of the recent single crisis with Israel. These are nothing but illusions, which prove that Arabs misread the regional scene, and there are attempts to sway people to think in this way as a lever to settle a score and reap interests. This should not be allowed.
The people’s strong admiration for Erdogan led, in turn, to similar admiration of the Turkish model to the extent that some Arab media figures have started promoting the idea of applying the model to Egypt and other parts in the Arab World where unrests are taking place. Those who make enthusiastic calls for imitating the “Turkish model” did not see any harm in adding a new sentence to the Egyptian constitution which authorizes the army to protect the constitution.
Although it appears fine, this sentence taken from the Turkish constitution which made the army the sole protector and guarantor of secularism in Turkey. It is the very sentence that the Turkish people have been struggling for 80 years to omit from their constitution. Advocates of the Turkish model act as if the first thing to be done is to bring all political parties under the army’s umbrella.
Those who want to adopt the Erdogan model should search for an Erdogan among Egyptians. That is why I was not surprised a bit when asked whether it was possible to find an Egyptian Erdogan with the same charisma and influence. The protesters on Tahrir Square, who wanted to oust one man, are now looking also for one man, as if their concept of power and justice is associated with the leader and not the idea, with the man and not the establishment. It is frightening if they are looking for a new pharaoh for Egypt.
Those who called for imitating the Turkish model are also mixed up, I don’t know if is intentional or not, between the identity of each nation and its ruling model. What we know for sure is that the Turkish identity is different from that of Egypt and other Arab countries. The Turkish identity exists in countries that have been historically linked with the Turks and the Toranic identity. There are some differences which make some countries get into conflicts, especially those in Central Asia and the countries which freed themselves from the yoke of Russian rule after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
It is most likely that advocates of the Turkish model in the Arab World liked the idea of merging secularism with the Muslim ruling party. They think that such a combination will solve a chronic conflict between originality and contemporary ideas. No one in the Arab World can discuss the secularism issue, which is banned.
It is most likely that Erdogan’s model might find a way out among liberal parties and forces that would defend on a model that they think does not find any contradiction between the principles of Shariah and the values of a modern state.
It is most likely that some Egyptian political parties with Islamic reference, perhaps Tunisian and Libyan parties in the future, might see in the Turkish model a chance to rally up support from moderate and liberal parties. Erdogan is trying to build a modern state based on establishments, respect and freedom where the rule of law prevails and applies equally to everyone without discrimination. These are the most important standards of today’s modern states.
Those who want to imitate the Turkish model should pay attention to two very important factors: First, the model of modern Turkey is the same model of modern states in Europe. Erdogan is trying to make the political, economic and social system in his country compatible with the European standards in anticipation of getting permission from Europe to join the European Union. Second, imitation in the world of politics is a big mistake because identities of nation are different and it is logical that the model of rule and government should be in harmony with the nation’s identity.
Erdogan wonders how Tahrir Square will go down in history. Nobody has the right answer to this question right now. There are mere wishes that what happened and is happening is a revolution not a passing phase. __
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