Exiled Brotherhood officials may find home in Turkey
As Qatar expels Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood figures, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says there is nothing stopping them from traveling to Turkey "like any foreign guest."
With the United States taking the lead in ramping up the fight against radical terrorists in the region, wealthy Gulf countries are exerting pressure on Qatar to expel exiled Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood officials. After the 2013 Egyptian military coup, the group was designated a terrorist organization and a massive wave of arrests forced Muslim Brotherhood officials to flee the country. In June, an Egyptian court upheld the death penalty for a Brotherhood leader and 182 supporters, sending shock waves across the world.
The wealthy Gulf countries, mainly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, also consider the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. In a quasi-secret November 2013 agreement with Qatar, they tried to exert pressure on Doha to expel the Muslim Brotherhood officials. It is only now, however, that an agreement to do so is being implemented.
That aside, Hurriyet daily news reported Sept. 17, “Egypt has recently asked Interpol to renew red notices for the Muslim Brotherhood members who are being forced to leave Qatar.” There is no public record, though, showing Interpol issuing any such alert.
Yasar Yakis, Turkey's foreign minister during the first term of Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule, told Al-Monitor that this is a critical piece of information when considering the arrival of Amr Darrag, the Brotherhood’s foreign relations officer, to Istanbul from Doha on Sept. 16. “If Turkey allowed Darrag to enter the country in the absence of an Interpol red notice, the government cannot be accused of violating any international norms,” Yakis said. “But Turkey can be seen as acting against the principles of good faith between friendly countries. This casts a new shadow on Turkey-Egypt relations.”
