It is without doubt that Egypt is one of the Middle Eastern countries which followed the failed coup attempt on July 15th closely. What is intriguing about Egypt’s attitude is that its prominent media adopted a pro-coup stance, it opposed the statement that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) wanted to publish and it voted against the resolution by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which declared the Gülenist Terrorist Organization as “terrorist.”
Looking at the pro-coup stance of the Egyptian media on that night helps understand Egypt’s attitude toward the coup attempt on July 15th. The mainstream Egyptian media, which has been under the influence of the current government, not only closely followed the coup attempt in Turkey but also has adopted a stance favoring the attempt and even some prominent newspapers such as al-Ahram published headlines such as “the Turkish Army has taken over the administration.” It actually demonstrates the situation of the Egyptian media after the July 3 2013 coup. Yet, the attitude of the mainstream media, which is under the total influence of the government, shows a great deal about the Egyptian government’s perspective about the coup attempt in Turkey.
The official stance of the Egyptian government toward the July 15 coup attempt was first demonstrated in Egypt’s blocking of the UNSC declaration that “condemns the coup attempt in Turkey and calls for respecting the elected government.” Egypt as a non-permanent member of the UNSC justified its opposition to the declaration by stating that it rejected the clause, “respecting the democratically elected government,” on the grounds that the UNSC cannot judge whether “governments are democratically elected.” In fact, this move by Egypt is not only related to its sour relations with Turkey but also to a “defensive reflex” since the current Egyptian government came into office after the July 2013 coup. Egypt is disturbed by the clause, “democratically elected government,” in the statement that the UNSC sought to declare.
Ahmed Ebu Zeyyad, Spokesman of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated while explaining Egypt’s opposition in the UNSC that Egypt’s approach towards the July 15 failed coup attempt involves “the principle of non-intervention in other countries’ internal affairs, since what happens in Turkey is an internal affair.” The Foreign Ministry Spokesman makes reference to Turkey’s attitude toward the July 3rd 2013 coup in Egypt which had overthrown the first democratically elected present Muhammed Mursi. Egypt considers Turkey’s attitude after the July 3 coup as an “intervention in its internal affairs.”
After opposing the UNSC statement, Egypt voted against the OIC resolution declaring the Gülenists as a terrorist organization.
Political Asylum to Fethullah Gülen
Besides its opposition to the statement of the UNSC and the resolution of OIC, and the attitude of its mainstream media, another intriguing point about Egypt’s approach to the failed coup attempt of July 15 is about the debates about giving “political asylum” to Fethullah Gülen, whom Turkey wants the U.S. to extradite. This claim was uttered first by the Egyptian mainstream and social media after the failure of the coup attempt and then a member of the Egyptian parliament carried it to the Parliament’s agenda.
Lastly, Sherif Ismail, Egyptian Prime Minister stated that they will consider giving a political asylum to Fethullah Gülen if they receive an application. Even though Egypt conceives the political asylum to Fethullah Gülen as a counter move against Turkey’s sheltering of the Muslim Brotherhood members, it is unclear as to whether it will seriously consider taking such a step. As a matter of fact, the post-coup government in Egypt had sought to counter Turkey’s anti-coup stance which determined its policy towards Egypt after the July 2013 coup by making statements about the “Armenian question,” yet it had fallen short of taking a significant step in that direction.
As mentioned above, it is difficult to determine whether Egypt will give political asylum to Gülen and how seriously it considers that issue, yet it is certain that such a move will present serious risks for it. If the U.S. decides to no longer carry this burden and extradites Gülen, it is questionable that how long Egypt can handle that. It will harm Egypt the most.
