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.
Erdogan is frustrated by the Egyptian military’s actions because he considers it a blow against democracy and therefore to the rise of Islamist interests in the Middle East. While the Obama administration, for example, refrains from labeling the Egyptian military intervention a “coup,” Erdogan keeps denouncing those who won’t openly use that term. Here are three paragraphs from Erdogan’s speech on July 10 that are worth keeping on the record:
“In no country in the world are those who execute a military coup remembered well. Have you ever seen anyone gratefully recalling past military coups in our country? Some applaud it at first. They say, ‘Live long, be well.’ But they all curse them after a while, like now. Surely it will be no different for those (in Egypt.) Those who think they grabbed the power with the military’s help will be judged and found guilty. … Those who staged the military coup in Egypt, those who supported the military coup in Egypt, or those who did not raise their voices will carry the burden of it as long as they live.
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