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Turkey and Egypt: Where is the Model?

Turkey and Egypt: Where is the Model?

Moushira KHATTAB

The Turkish system of government has often been nominated as a model for the Arab Spring countries, particularly by political Islamists. For the past decade, Turkey has been governed by the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). However, the AKP describes itself as a conservative-democrat party that fully accepts Turkey’s secular system of government, which managed to carry the country from the brink of bankruptcy to a successful economy ranking 15th globally in terms of GDP.

Erdoğan was welcomed as a hero when he visited Egypt in early 2012, the first post-revolution visit by a head of government. He dropped a bombshell when he declared that he is in favor of a secular regime despite being a Muslim, much to the chagrin of Egyptian Islamists who have not yet developed their vision for the welfare and development of the Egyptian people.

Two years after the Egyptian awakening, ordinary citizens still do not appear to be a priority for the Muslim Brotherhood. Furthermore, the lack of a charismatic, unifying leader or a common national aspiration, such as Turkey’s EU ambitions, has left the country in unprecedented polarization.

Both countries bear witness to a similar struggle for equal rights for women. In Egypt’s case, the story is one of both success and frustration. Despite gradual advancements, women continue to be marginalized in both countries. Issues pertaining to women’s rights or empowerment were not a significant part of the debate in the run-up of Turkey’s 2011 parliamentary elections, just as they were widely disregarded in Egypt’s post revolution elections.

Political Islam is on the rise in the Middle East. Women in both Turkey and Egypt fear that their quest for equal rights will be derailed and their achieved rights threatened. Egyptian women were the first to get the taste of its impact. Two years into the Arab Spring, reality for women has been sobering.

The dynamics of the revolution have produced a very complex situation for women, as the rise of conservative political Islam puts the breaks on Arab women’s struggle for equal rights. Although they emerged as a formidable active voting bloc of nearly 23 million people, Egyptian women were systematically ignored by political parties and candidates, both Islamist and liberal, during the parliamentary and presidential elections. Women were also marginalized during the process of drafting the Constitution.

The post-revolution Islamist Constitution seriously threatens to relegate the status of women and widen the gap even more between Turkish and Egyptian women. Article 10 of this Constitution is the sole article that identifies women as a distinct group. However, it does not establish any rights for women. Furthermore, the state’s responsibility to guarantee equality between men and women was removed altogether.

On the other hand, Egypt’s post-revolution Constitution assigns a greater role for religion. “Principles” of Shariah remain the source of legislation. Article 219 interprets article two by effectively turning “principles” into the more restrictive “provisions,” which can vary according to the personal conviction of clerics who will have the final word over the laws that translate such broad terms. It gives a non-elected and non-judicial body authority over the legislature and democratically elected bodies.

The cause of women has been an issue since the outset of the revolutions and the “spring” has unfortunately turned into an autumn for women, or a spring without flowers. Two years into the Arab Spring, it is evident that Islamic conservatism limits women’s role in public life.

Egyptian women need to use their formidable voting power and political activism in order to maintain and build on their gains until they achieve their inalienable rights. Moreover, they will benefit if the ruling Islamists were guided by the Turkish example.

Will the Egyptian Islamists, who view Turkey as a model in economic development, consider Turkey a model in women’s rights? What’s more, will Turkey continue to be a model, or will the pressure toward more Islamization make Egypt’s Islamists the model, instead?

*Ambassador Moushira Khattab is the Former Egyptian Minister of Family and Population. This article was originally published in the Winter 2013 issue of Turkish Policy Quarterly (TPQ). This one is an abbreviated version of the piece.

via CONTRIBUTOR – Turkey and Egypt: Where is the Model?.

March 18, 2013
Struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran for reputation in Islamic world

Gulnara Inanch,

Head of Representative Office of Lev Gumilev Center of Russia in Azerbaijan.

Director of Information and Analytical Center Etnoglobus (ethnoglobus.az), editor of Russian section of Turkishnews American-Turkish Resource websitewww.turkishnews.com

Spread and activity of Islam within the last 20 years is the result of globalization policy of the West, particularly the U.S. Its first phase started in the late 80’s of previous century following the collapse of the Soviet Union and activity of Islam in the region.

Different faith and trends of Islam which came to the territories of the Soviet Union from the Middle East and Persian Gulf became power acting against Russia during the Second Chechen War.

After withdrawal of Russian troops from Afghanistan, Taliban regime took the control of most part of Afghanistan as a result of which Islam started to be spread in Middle Asia.

At the same time of opening of the geography of the Former Soviet Union to Islam, big area where the Muslims are settled have traditionally confronted with non-traditional Islam trends.

Later, as a result of events called as «Arab spring» and by intervention of the US and coalition forces, governments in power in Tunis, Yemen, Egypt and Libya were overthrown and Islamic forces seized the power.

In reality, when the U.S made a decision regarding government overthrow in the Middle East, it also caused the processes to be out of control in the region. After military intervention in Iraq, Iraqi regions mostly populated by Shias neighboring with Iran fell under the control of Iran.

Since national consciousness in Arab countries is as the same as religious, tribal consciousness, government overthrow in Arab countries through revolution by the West increased the religious senses of people as a result of which Islamic political parties found a way to the government. Arab countries with limited freedom, living in regimes with closed doors to democracy, linked the freedom with Islam and found it reasonable that political Islam seized the power.

Islamic forces, seizing the power following «Arab spring», contrary to all expectations, at least for the present moment, pursue moderate policy. The fact that new Egyptian government fights against Al-Qaida militants together with official Tel-Aviv in the borders with Israel is another proof of it. However, claims of Egypt’s new government regarding forming “Pan-Arab” empire with capital Quds by evaluating the country as influential state of the region allow us to think that all the processes are about to change towards radicalism.

US military operations in Iraq and governmental overthrow in the Middle East contributed to new phase of Islamic formation. Along with hardline Islam demonstrated by “Hamas” in Palestine and “Hezbollah” in Lebanon, victory of moderate pro–Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey brought changes to world’s political order. In 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran demonstrated the world specific management order formed by unity of secular and religious laws. Another country in the region claimed to be Islamic center is Saudi Arabia. Thus, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia joined in struggle to distribute their reputation sphere in Islamic world.

Besides, “Arab Spring” has turned the stable competitiveness into armed conflict between the Shia and Sunni Islam. Another reason is the increase of reputation of Iran in the areas settled by the Shias as a result of events that happened in the Middle East.

Location of the main parts of carbohydrates from Persian Gulf to Caspian Sea in the areas where the Shias live densely makes brain centers of Israel and USA to draw attention to this factor. As a result, the projects such as “the Shia Line”, “Combination of resources of Persian and CaspianBasins” has been made. This factor is one of the reasons of political processes in the Middle East caused by conflicts between the Shia and the Sunnis.

On another hand, the processes in the Middle East, especially the destiny of Syria, made reconsider the relations of Islam countries among them. It should be noted that, the effort to eliminate tension of recent years and the observance of warmness in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Non-Aligned Movement Summit held in autumn of the past year in Tehran are one of the factors certifying this thought. But, this obligatory attitude should not be considered as a break from struggle against the reputation in two regional powers in Persian Gulf and Islam world.

As there possibility of “Arab Spring”, which is now in Syria, is still remained for other Arab countries, to avoid it, Saudi Arabia demonstrates its desire to give to Iran its confidence breaking the coldness ice that continues for a long time.

From another hand, coming into power of Islam Parties instead of overthrown powers in Arab countries and increase of salafi trends’ influence strengthens the Saudi Arabia in the region and demonstrates its twofaced game against Iran. Clear threats are stated by Salafi leaders against the Shiism.

It should be stated that, “Arab Spring” caused protests by Alavis in Turkey and increase of inter-trends conflicts and allowed Al-Qaida to penetrate into this country.

Al-Qaida, supported by Saudi Arabia, struggling for reputation in the region with Iran, having taken advantages of spread of salafism in the region as a result of “Arab spring”, began to increased it’s reputation. This struggle is still in its initial phase. In the future, competition of Islamic trends, in fact, regional countries supporting these trends, will step into new phase.

March 16, 2013
Egypt presidency condemns killing fatwa as ‘terrorism’

Egypt’s presidential office has condemned the practice of or invitation to political violence, as said in a Thursday statement.

The released presidential statement comes two days after a cleric from Al-Azhar issued a religious edict – on air – giving the green light to kill opposition leaders Mohamed ElBaradei and Hamdeen Sabbahi.

“Practicing religious violence or threatening to do so has become one of the gravest challenges facing the Arab Spring,” the presidential statement said. “Egyptians must join hands to avoid the danger of civil strife and face attempts to spread division.”

“Some are promoting and inciting political violence while others who claim to speak in the name of religion are permitting ‘killing’ based on political differences and this is terrorism,” read the statement.

The presidency “stresses on its complete rejection of hate speech which attributes itself to religion,” calling on all national forces, religious institutions and intellectuals to stand together against “inciting” language, the statement asserted.

Sources told Al-Ahram Arabic language news website that security will be increased at the residences of prominent opposition forces, especially after the assassination of leading Tunisian leftist politician Chokri Belaid in Tunisia on Wednesday.

Sources told Reuters that forces were in fact stationed in front of both ElBaradei and Sabbahi’s homes.

Egypt is undergoing a period of political unrest since the second anniversary of the 25 January Revolution when clashes between protesters, rioters and police left over 50 dead – mostly protesters – in the days following the anniversary.

The Egyptian government is accused by the opposition of relying on Mubarak-era repression in the face of popular discontent across the country.

via Egypt presidency condemns killing fatwa as ‘terrorism’.

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February 8, 2013
Turkey, Egypt sign cooperation protocol in iron and steel trade

Turkish Deputy Economy Minister Mustafa Sever said they plan to increase the trade volume between Turkey and Egypt to 10 billion USD from 5 billion USD and increase the Turkish investments in Egypt to 5 billion USD from 2 billion USD.

World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkey and Egypt have signed a protocol on cooperation in iron and steel trade. Penned by the Union of Turkish Steel Exporters and the Union of Egypt International Business and Investment, the protocol aims to boost the iron and steel trade between the two countries and enhance cooperation between the sectors.

Turkish Deputy Economy Minister Mustafa Sever said they plan to increase the trade volume between Turkey and Egypt to 10 billion USD from 5 billion USD and increase the Turkish investments in Egypt to 5 billion USD from 2 billion USD.

Turkey’s Ambassador to Egypt Huseyin Avni Botsali said the relationship between Turkey and Egypt should be a model for other countries, and added that the 21st century would be the century for Turkey and Egypt.

Botsali said Turkey would support Egypt in every means on its rebuilding process, and Egypt’s development would bring confidence and stability to the region.

via Turkey, Egypt sign cooperation protocol in iron and steel trade | Economy | World Bulletin.

January 15, 2013
Siddiqui: Clichés cloud view of Egypt and Turkey

By Haroon Siddiqui Editorial Page

Transformation from dictatorship to democracy is never easy. Egypt’s mess, therefore, is not surprising.

Khaled Abdullah/REUTERS Opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi protested in Cairo on Tuesday against his Islamist-backed constitution. The constitution could be approved in the second round of voting on the referendum on Dec. 22, 2012.

It is helpful to compare Egypt with the region’s other large Muslim nation, Turkey, which has taken huge strides toward liberal democracy.

It is also useful to discard our clichés on the Middle East.

Not all “Islamists” are illiterate bearded zealots and women in niqabs. The Muslim Brotherhood includes highly educated professionals. Mohammed Morsi is a Ph.D. in engineering from California. His cultural references include Gone with the Wind and Planet of the Apes. He says his U.S.-born son can aspire to the White House.

Not all his opponents are secularists. Critics include women in hijab worried over women’s rights, and believers who don’t want a Muslim version of George W. Bush, who waged war on Iraq claiming that he had consulted God.

Not all secularists are liberals, either. Some are fascist. They include nationalists, such as the Turks who resist Turkey joining the European Union. Others are intolerant of opposing viewpoints and those who don’t look or talk like them — some show the same animus toward Islamists as Western Islamophobes. Yet others invoke secularism to rationalize authoritarian rule.

Morsi is Egypt’s first elected leader. His three predecessors since the 1952 overthrow of the monarchy were military men — Gamal Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. The Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed until last year. It has won every election since.

In Turkey, the military carried out four coups since 1960. In ousting the last elected government in 1998, it deemed the prime minister an Islamist. His colleagues rebranded themselves as the Justice and Development Party, which has won every election since 2002.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan faced stiff opposition every step of the way in asserting civilian control over the military and other elements of the so-called Deep State, including the judiciary and bureaucracy. This shadow government used the bogey of “Islamism” — that Erdogan was out to establish a theocracy like Iran’s, or a new Ottoman sultanate. The army threatened another coup in 2008 because the wife of the presidential candidate, Abdullah Gul, wore a hijab.

The establishment in Istanbul and Ankara tried to discredit Erdogan as representing the peasantry from backward Anatolia where voters are unfit to exercise their franchise. Ironically, a similar denigrating argument is used by European racists and xenophobes to rationalize the marginalization of Turkish immigrants in Germany, Holland and elsewhere.

In Egypt, the army refused to go away even after Mubarak was toppled. It stripped the newly elected Morsi of his presidential powers. The judiciary dismissed the elected parliament. Other elements of Egypt’s own Deep State tried to sabotage the elected representatives. Others think that uneducated or ill-educated rural masses do not deserve the vote — a yardstick by which a big chunk of the American electorate would be disqualified.

This is not to say that all opposition in Turkey or Egypt is unprincipled. But there’s no mistaking the undemocratic nature of much of it.

The parallels end there.

Turkey’s economy is $1 trillion, Egypt’s $250 billion — and sinking. Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952, while Egypt has been a client state of America. Turkey has been a democracy for decades, albeit an imperfect one, whereas Egypt has had authoritarian rule and its only current locus of electoral legitimacy is Morsi, whose job is still being defined.

While Erdogan and colleagues are seasoned politicians, Morsi is a neophyte. While they have been gradualists, Morsi and the Brotherhood have been impatient. While they tamed the army, Morsi and the Brotherhood have made a pact with the devil. The new constitution guarantees that the defence minister would be an army person, and that the military budget would have little civilian oversight.

As Egypt muddles toward democracy, outsiders must help. Or risk another Algeria, where the army annulled the 1993 election won by the Islamists, causing civil war. Or Gaza, where Hamas won in 2006 and was deemed a terrorist entity, only to emerge stronger since. Or Pakistan, where the military never let elected governments take hold.

By contrast, wherever Islamists have been allowed as legitimate participants in the electoral process, they were forced to moderate themselves. When they didn’t, they were defeated and marginalized. That’s the magic of democracy.

NB: Last Sunday, I said that Egypt’s new constitution restricts freedom of religion to monotheistic religions, and “thus Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, etc., get no rights.” That’s wrong, on two counts. Sikhs and Zoroastrians also consider themselves monotheists. Second, the constitution guarantees freedom of religion to all citizens but grants special rights to Muslims, Christians and Jews. Therefore, it’s the non-Abrahamic faiths that won’t have the same rights as the other three.

I apologize for my clumsiness.

via Siddiqui: Clichés cloud view of Egypt and Turkey – thestar.com.

December 20, 2012
Obama urges Egypt and Turkey to play key Gaza role as death toll mounts

Palestinian youths clash with Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. Photograph: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Images

President Barack Obama has personally urged leaders in Turkey and Egypt to engage with Hamas over a “de-escalation” of hostilities in Gaza, while continuing to support Israeli strikes despite mounting Palestinian civilian casualties.

Speaking on board Air Force One en route to Asia, White House national security adviser Ben Rhodes blamed Hamas for the current round of violence, stating that the “precipitating factor” for Israeli air strikes were rockets fired into civilian territories from Gaza.

It comes as the Palestinian death toll continues to rise. Up to 41 Gazans, including 13 civilians, and three Israelis have been killed since the Israeli operation began. Palestinian authorities have said their dead included at least eight children and a pregnant woman.

Asked about the bombing of government buildings – including prime minister Ismail Haniyeh’s offices – the US official said he wouldn’t comment on “specific targeting choices” other than to say that the administration would “always underscore the importance of avoiding civilian casualties”.

But Rhodes reiterated the White House view that Hamas was responsible for the latest outburst of violence.

“Just to be clear on the precipitating factor: these rockets had been fired into Israeli civilian areas and territory for some time now. So Israelis have endured far too much of a threat from these rocket for far too long, and that is what led the Israelis to take the action that they did in Gaza,” he said.

He added that the US wanted the same thing as Israelis: “an end to the rocket fire coming out of Gaza”.

The comments come as the White House increased its diplomatic efforts to end the violence in Gaza.

Obama has spoken to Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it emerged on Saturday, along with Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi.

Both men have the “ability to play a constructive role in engaging Hamas and encouraging a process of de-escalation”, Rhodes said.

However, on Saturday, Erdogan appeared to take a different side in the conflict, despite the call from Obama. The Turkish leader on Saturday vowed support for Gaza’s Palestinians in a speech at Cairo University in Egypt. He also met Morsi for the first time since the Eggyptian Islamist leader was elected in late June, with Erdogan saying that that win at the polls offered hope to Palestinians.

The US has been reaching out to leaders across the Middle East as Israel and Hamas trade volleys of fire.

Secretary of state Hillary Clinton has spoken to the foreign ministers if Israel, Turkey and Egypt in the past few days, as well as Jordan’s King Abdullah.

But the US has been clear in pledging its support for Israel, its staunch ally.

Obama, who was on Saturday making his way to south-east Asia for a three day trip, has spoken to prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu every day since the current round of Israeli air strikes in Gaza commenced.

At a briefing on Friday, a State Department spokeswoman summed up the US position: “We are urging a de-escalation of this conflict. We are urging those countries with influence on Hamas and other groups in Gaza to use that influence to get a de-escalation,” the spokeswoman said.

“We support … Israel’s right to self-defence, and we obviously express our regret and sadness for the loss of life on all sides.”

Israel has seen the US stance as a clear signal that it has a virtually free hand.

On Friday, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, said during a visit to Capitol Hill: “The United States has given us the full backing to take whatever measures are necessary to defend our citizens from Hamas terror.” Meanwhile, the Palestinian delegation to Washington has condemned the US response to the crisis as “biased and weak”.

Despite diplomatic efforts, the violence continued on Saturday.

Israeli air strikes hit the office building of the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, amid warnings of a dangerous escalation in the conflict with up to 75,000 Israeli reservists mobilised for a possible ground invasion.

An explosion and air raid sirens were also heard over the Israeli port city of Tel Aviv as Palestinian militants in Gaza continued to fire rocket salvoes across the border four days after Israel launched an air offensive. So far Israel has struck more than 800 targets in Gaza while Gaza officials there said about 500 rockets had been launched so far at Israel.

via Obama urges Egypt and Turkey to play key Gaza role as death toll mounts | World news | guardian.co.uk.

November 19, 2012