The horizon of Turkey–Egypt relations

In an interview I gave in Arabic a few days ago to www.araby21.com, one of the most widely followed sites in the Arab world, what I said about Turkey-Egypt relations found an echo far beyond my expectation. It became the subject of news items and even debates on hundreds of Arab sites and on television.

My words were put to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry at a press conference with the Armenian Foreign Minister, who was visiting him; he said "good words are not enough, we look at action," but as action he did not mention the things we have grown used to hearing about Turkey's attitude and stance toward Egypt, for example Turkey's saying at every opportunity that it is against coups and thereby making the legitimacy of the coup administration in Egypt a subject of debate, the opening of its doors to Egyptian political refugees and the permission for their activities; strangely, he spoke instead of Turkey's activities in Iraq, Syria and Libya.

So the problem between Turkey and Egypt turns out to be well beyond what was known. Fine, we understood Libya: it is Egypt's neighbor, Egypt has an agenda there that directly concerns it, and Turkey went in there in response to the invitation of the legitimate Libyan Government, and in any case a new page was thereby opened between Turkey and Egypt. But why should what Turkey does in Syria and Iraq concern Egypt, or rather the Sisi administration, in the first degree?

Is it because of interfering in the affairs of the Arabs? What is left here of the matter of Arab, Turk, Kurd, for God's sake? The Armenian Foreign Minister, who was standing beside Shoukry when he made the statement in question, also opened his mouth in the same vocal and said they were against Turkey's activities in the Mediterranean. What does Armenia have to do with the Mediterranean; even if it were against them, how many columns would that be worth, a separate matter, but is the race the Egyptian and Armenian Foreign Ministers have entered into in this officiousness not strange enough?

I also said in my interview that we strongly recommend that the Arab League give up playing the Arabness card against Turkey. For what this Arab League does or does not do for Arabs, or on their behalf, is plain as day. Every day hundreds of "Arabs" seek asylum in Turkey or other European countries from their countries, which they have turned into hell with their dreadful administrations and regimes of repression and oppression.

In essence, those who seek asylum bring along with them both these rulers' legitimacy and their disgraced, scandalous standing. What is more, they bring along the right to speak in the name of Arabs and transfer it to the countries where they seek asylum. They must now see this reality.

Before Turkey entered Syria, at least 4 million Syrians came into Turkey. These do not go to any of the countries that swagger in the name of the Arab League; they go to non-Arab countries and seek asylum. Is this not enough of a shame already?

For the UAE, whose population contains not even one million Arabs, to speak on behalf of Arabs, and to tell Turkey, which has taken on the responsibility of nearly 15 million Arabs, including the Arab Turkish citizens in its own country now, those who have taken refuge in Turkey from other Arab countries, and the nearly 6 million refugees on the Turkish border in Syria, that it is interfering in the affairs of Arabs, is the bottom of shamelessness.

Meanwhile, the gist of what we have said about relations with Egypt is this: Because of its dispute with Turkey, Egypt is at present doing greater harm to itself with what it does to harm Turkey. We are merely, out of respect for the Egyptian people, and for Egypt's history, its identity and the values it represents, pointing to a horizon that is in Egypt's interest. Its alliance with Greece is plainly against Egypt. It does Turkey no harm, because the agreement it made has no validity from Turkey's standpoint.

Those who govern Egypt have no need to make these irrational moves, because in doing so they are doing great harm to their own history, their peoples and their armies. Evidently they are not following their own politics; we are pointing to what Egypt loses by their being, by proxy on behalf of certain parties, in an axis against Turkey. Otherwise, a relationship Turkey might build with the Sisi regime at present would bring Turkey no benefit, because, for example, there is in any case no functioning, reasonable, investable economic environment in Egypt.

The state to which the Sisi administration has brought Egypt is plain. Corruption, repression, bad governance, the state's interference in every field and the arbitrariness of law have already left no secure economic environment. Since in this kind of coup regime the first priority is the dictator's security and gain, the economic sphere in no way inspires confidence. Therefore no one loses anything from the absence or scarcity of relations with Egypt.

Nevertheless, the horizon we have recalled is that the historical, geopolitical relationship between the two countries requires another minimum level of relations. At this level the axis in which Egypt takes part is very wrong, and with it Egypt harms itself before it harms Turkey. There is no need for this. Turkey has never been in an approach that would harm Egypt in general. All the disputes with Sisi persist. But even Turkey's dispute is for Egypt's benefit, not to its detriment. In this matter there is neither a renunciation by Turkey of the principled stance it follows nor any question of making it a matter of debate.

Beyond all this, in truth Egypt today does not even have the independence to follow its own politics. Therefore its will is not free enough to seek a ground for a relationship with Turkey that would be to its own benefit. That is why its politicians, even at a word they have heard only halfway in this direction, respond against Turkey on behalf of the axis they represent, over matters that do not concern them at all.

Indeed, what Turkey does in Iraq and Syria concerns that axis more, and it is Egypt that pays the price. There is no need.