Post-Morsi Egypt: Gulf In, Turkey Out

CAIRO — The opposition crowd packing Tahrir Square began to celebrate long before the news of the “coup” reached the square and polarized the world between those who said it was a “coup” and those who didn’t. A young man asked me where I was from, and when I said, “Turkey,” he got the crowd chanting “Turkey, Turkey.” I also came across those intriguing pro-Turkey chants after the coup was announced. Unlike Turkey, Qatar was the target of anger at Tahrir. The people there had not identified Ikhwan with the Justice and Development Party (AKP), as many did in Turkey, at least not before Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s diplomatic efforts against the coup were revealed in Cairo. If nothing else, the crowd remembered that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had once recommended secularism to Ikhwan. And Mohammed Morsi’s Islamist agenda was one of their grievances. Plus, people are more or less able to make a distinction between a country and its government.

Erdogan: Nasr City’s hero

Those who did identify Ikhwan with the AKP were the pro-Morsi protesters outside Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo’s Nasr City. While no one mentioned Erdogan at Tahrir, those at Rabia al-Adawiya gave the thumbs up and spontaneously shouted “Erdogan, Erdogan” as soon as they learned we were Turkish. Speakers who addressed the protesters thanked Erdogan for supporting Morsi and the crowd responded with applause. Turkish public broadcaster TRT’s Arabic channel was featured on a poster displaying the names of nine television channels that highlighted Ikhwan’s resistance to the coup. The masses at Rabia al-Adawiya related to Turkey via Islamist bonds, while for the rest of Egypt, Turkey’s essential appeal is embodied in soap opera characters such as Mohannad, played by actor Kivanc Tatlitug, who have become phenomena there. The soap operas have provoked an incredible interest in Turkey in their own right, independently from government policies.

Turkey’s pro-Morsi mobilization