TEHRAN – A senior Turkish political analyst says Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s strong opposition to the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi by the army may have “disastrous political consequences” for Turkey if the Muslim Brotherhood fails to return to power in Egypt.
“I wonder what Turkey’s government is planning to do if Morsi fails to come back… Turkey may find itself all alone in blocking its relations with Egypt and such a prospect may produce disastrous political consequences,” Nuray Mert tells the Mehr News Agency.
Following is the text of the interview:
Q: What is your assessment of the recent developments in Egypt and the removal of President Mohamed Morsi from power by the army? Do you consider it as a coup?
A: Regardless of Mohamed Morsi’s authoritarian tendencies, I think what happened in Egypt was against democracy and was a coup. What happened contradicts with my political principles. The governments of democratic countries are expected to condemn anti-democratic events in foreign countries and express concerns.
Q: What is your analysis of the Turkish PM’s stance toward Egyptian developments?
A: So far, the PM and the government have not only condemned the army’s intervention, but also engaged in a political struggle in Egypt so that Justice and Development Party (AKP) politicians have expressed their faith in Morsi’s fight to return to power. Beside these, it seems that Turkey is the only country which has engaged itself so deeply in Egyptian affairs like the government’s Syrian policy and you know while Erdogan’s Syrian policy was in tune with his Western and regional allies it failed.
Though international and regional actors have so far been very cautious even about classifying the nature of the act that deposed Morsi, our PM accused the “Western world” of not naming it as a coup, criticizing Westerners of hypocrisy.
Our PM and the government have to know that if foreign governments choose to take a firm stance, they are expected to take action as well, like diminishing or cutting diplomatic relations, imposing sanctions and so on.
Q: What will be the consequences of such a policy for Turkey?
A: I wonder what Turkey’s government is planning to do if Morsi fails to come back. Will the government change its stance or will it keep antagonizing the current powers. Turkey may find itself all alone in blocking its relations with Egypt and such a prospect may produce disastrous political consequences.
Q: Why does Erdogan support Morsi and the Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood) so strongly?
A: We all know that there are political affinities and solidarity between the AKP and the Muslim Brotherhood. Relations between Turkey and Egypt has gone beyond international relations between the two countries, it has been turned into “cross-boundary ideological solidarity” between two neo-Islamist political parties. Turkey’s foreign policy is becoming more curious every day and Egypt has so far been the latest curiosity.
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“I wonder what Turkey’s government is planning to do if Morsi fails to come back… Turkey may find itself all alone in blocking its relations with Egypt and such a prospect may produce disastrous political consequences,” Nuray Mert tells the Mehr News Agency.
Following is the text of the interview:
Q: What is your assessment of the recent developments in Egypt and the removal of President Mohamed Morsi from power by the army? Do you consider it as a coup?
A: Regardless of Mohamed Morsi’s authoritarian tendencies, I think what happened in Egypt was against democracy and was a coup. What happened contradicts with my political principles. The governments of democratic countries are expected to condemn anti-democratic events in foreign countries and express concerns.
Q: What is your analysis of the Turkish PM’s stance toward Egyptian developments?
A: So far, the PM and the government have not only condemned the army’s intervention, but also engaged in a political struggle in Egypt so that Justice and Development Party (AKP) politicians have expressed their faith in Morsi’s fight to return to power. Beside these, it seems that Turkey is the only country which has engaged itself so deeply in Egyptian affairs like the government’s Syrian policy and you know while Erdogan’s Syrian policy was in tune with his Western and regional allies it failed.
Though international and regional actors have so far been very cautious even about classifying the nature of the act that deposed Morsi, our PM accused the “Western world” of not naming it as a coup, criticizing Westerners of hypocrisy.
Our PM and the government have to know that if foreign governments choose to take a firm stance, they are expected to take action as well, like diminishing or cutting diplomatic relations, imposing sanctions and so on.
Q: What will be the consequences of such a policy for Turkey?
A: I wonder what Turkey’s government is planning to do if Morsi fails to come back. Will the government change its stance or will it keep antagonizing the current powers. Turkey may find itself all alone in blocking its relations with Egypt and such a prospect may produce disastrous political consequences.
Q: Why does Erdogan support Morsi and the Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood) so strongly?
A: We all know that there are political affinities and solidarity between the AKP and the Muslim Brotherhood. Relations between Turkey and Egypt has gone beyond international relations between the two countries, it has been turned into “cross-boundary ideological solidarity” between two neo-Islamist political parties. Turkey’s foreign policy is becoming more curious every day and Egypt has so far been the latest curiosity.
[h=5]Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader[/h]