While secular parties in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have remained silent toward the downfall of the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Kurdish Islamic movements expressed their concern about what they considered a coup against democracy and legitimacy in the Middle East.

The Egyptian army ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on July 3, 2013 and declared a political transition enjoying popular support and solidarity from political and religious leaders and youth. 

The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), an influential opposition party in the Kurdistan region of Iraq that retains the Brotherhood’s ideology, expressed concerns over the recent events in Egypt and the use of force for ousting Morsi.

The KIU, which controls six out of 111 seats in the Kurdistan regional parliament, held a meeting for its political bureau on July 4, 2013, to discuss the “military coup in Egypt.” According to the party’s statement posted on its website, “The political bureau expressed concern regarding the use of force by the army in political conflicts, and the party believes that what happened was a military coup against democracy and against a civilian president elected through the ballot box.”