Erdogan Plays Politics With Egypt's Coup
The Turkish prime minister’s stance on Egypt is mostly about domestic politics.
While I have never believed the idea that Turkey could guide the Arab states toward democracy, I’m also skeptical about claims that the coup in Egypt will impact Turkey. Each country has its own uniqueness, and if one wants to move toward democracy, the world is a huge hub of inspiration for discovering the right tracks that could put any state on a train toward democratic governance. But the West got too ambitious with the Islamist-based Justice and Development Party (AKP) coming to power in November 2002, and encumbered it with a mission that defies the premises of a true democracy — the West prioritized the Islamist character of the AKP's founding members.
No doubt all representatives of political Islam in Turkey have grown up with the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood, but ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rose to power through different circumstances. Just because there are certain similarities between the two leaders and the countries do not make them identical. There is, however, a kind of a chicken-and-egg dilemma here about who really wants exactly what.
