In the traitor’s trench: Erdogan supported and financed Brotherhood against Egypt (Part 1)

Mahmoud al-Batakoushi

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, dreaming of restoring the glories of the Ottoman state that had made the Arab peoples taste the scourge of humiliation, found his desired goal in the Brotherhood. He began to desire to control the Arab world through the gate of Egypt, from which his followers were able to manage for a brief time, but he woke up from his delusions by the Egyptian people’s revolution on June 30, 2013, which was supported and protected by the Egyptian army, confusing the calculations of the Turkish occupier.

The Turkish president, who was then prime minister, supported the protests of the terrorist Brotherhood in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square by issuing direct orders to one of his Turkish television networks to run programs favorable to supporters of the defunct regime of Mohamed Morsi.

In the traitor’s trench

Erdogan intervened through one of his loyalists on the day Morsi was removed from his post by trying to reduce the popular protests against the terrorist Brotherhood in Tahrir Square and focusing on the limited protests of the Brotherhood elements.

On July 3, 2013, Erdogan contacted Mehmet Fatih Saraç, senior manager of the Turkish Ciner Media Group, to complain about the group’s television station Haberturk’s coverage of events in Egypt, criticizing the statements of a guest who had been invited to a talk show as a commentator. The then-prime minister asked the guest to use Al-Jazeera as a source and to focus on the demonstrations of terrorist elements, criticizing the portrayal of the demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where Egyptians were celebrating the fall of the Brotherhood.

The program broadcast on Haberturk about events in Egypt angered Erdogan, who contacted the network’s director to request changes.

Erdogan’s personal involvement manifested in managing the editorial line to direct TV network coverage, especially in Turkey, against Egypt to support the Brotherhood. This confirms that Erdogan and his political Islamists were driven by ideological fanaticism at the expense of Turkish national security interests.

The Erdogan government also encouraged the Brotherhood to continue gathering in the streets despite the risk of clashes and bloodshed.

Then-Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey was with the Egyptian people, while Huseyin Celik, a prominent member of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), called on Morsi’s supporters to defend their votes.

To this day, Erdogan provides a safe haven for the members of the terrorist Brotherhood, turning Turkey into a regional center for the international terrorist organization and a highly inflammable terrorist hotspot.

Pressure from Istanbul

Erdogan also directed his supporters to organize protests against the Egyptian government in Istanbul following the dispersal of the Brotherhood’s sit-ins in Rabaa and al-Nahda squares, organized by the Foundation for Human Rights, Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief. Leaked calls revealed that Erdogan had mobilized rallies and ignored fears that Turkey might be left alone in its campaign against the Egyptian leadership. The conversation also showed the ideological fanaticism that motivates the Turkish president in his attempt to promote his political ambitions and his demand to lead the Islamic world, as well as to assume the position of beneficiary of the Brotherhood at the expense of Turkish national interests.

Erdogan told Saudi businessman Yassin Kadi, an al-Qaeda financier, that all good things in his life were overshadowed by developments in Egypt. He added that the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) played a pioneering role in organizing funeral prayers for Brotherhood members all over the country.

Erdogan stressed the need to rapidly expand protests against the Egyptian state. In Bolu Province, the Humanitarian Aid Foundation and the Civil Service Employees Union, both groups supporting Erdogan, led a march of hundreds echoing slogans supporting Morsi after Friday prayers at Yıldırım Bayezid Mosque. More protests were organized in many parts of Turkey, including Diyarbakir, Mardin, Erzurum, Bursa, Kayseri, Yalova, Bitlis, Adana, Samsun, Trabzon, Amasya, Zonguldak, Sandikli and Afyonkarahisar. Protesters across Turkey chanted slogans against then-Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the United States and Israel.

Erdogan also tried to antagonize the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) against Egypt, but Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary-general of the organization at that time, refused to implement the Turkish president’s wishes, which led Erdogan to direct his team to attack Ihsanoglu and called on him to resign from his position since he is a Turkish citizen. The Turkish leader also launched his cyber brigades to discredit the OIC secretary-general.

Clear violations

Erdogan interfered in Egypt’s internal politics in order to strengthen support for ousted President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, as he was planning to send aid to make Morsi look good before possible elections. Erdogan also sought to heal the rift between prominent Brotherhood member Khairat el-Shater and Morsi, stressing that the hostility and estrangement between them is not in the interest of the group’s future. He asked them to perform some work in Cairo to convince the Egyptians to vote for them, offering them his support in cleaning up cities after a Spanish company failed to do so in anticipation of early presidential elections called for by the political opposition, in clear violation of Egyptian laws that prevent foreign interference in domestic affairs.

After Morsi’s ouster, Erdogan’s expected that the Brotherhood would return in a big way in just three to five years after the June 30 revolution, as he drew a comparison between the overthrow of Turkish political Islamists in the late 1990s and what happened to Morsi, claiming that the Brotherhood in Egypt would return in force just as the Islamists did within a few years of his reign in Turkey.

He was referring to the resignation of late Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan from a coalition government in 1997 under pressure from the army. Erdogan, who was Istanbul’s mayor from the Islamic Welfare Party, was also fired from his post after his conviction, and he served a four-month prison sentence.

A few days ago, Ankara witnessed a meeting of Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu with Brotherhood leaders and media professionals loyal to the terrorist organization, including Ayman Nour, Hossam El-Shorbagy, Hamza Zawba, Mokhtar el-Ashry and Hossam el-Ghamry.

The Ankara meeting focused on how the demonstrations could move in the streets of Egypt, with plans being drawn up to stir things up in one way or another.

The Egyptian state’s control over the situation after Morsi’s ouster and the demolition of the Brotherhood state caused Erdogan to experience frustration, especially after the protests lost their strength. This prompted him to support terrorist operations in a miserable attempt to strike Egypt’s stability and eliminate Sisi’s popularity.