Muslim Brotherhood exiles in Turkey face uncertain future
The rapprochement between Ankara and Cairo has catalyzed internal rifts between exiled leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Amid a fledgling Turkish bid last April to normalize ties with Egypt, a delegation of exiled Muslim Brotherhood leaders held talks in Ankara, seeking assurances that they would not be thrown under the bus while Ibrahim Mounir, the acting supreme guide of the Brotherhood, thanked Turkey for its support. It was the harbinger of a storm brewing within the movement, but the issue generated little debate at the time. Since then, however, further signs have emerged that the Brotherhood’s choice of Turkey as a safe haven was hardly auspicious for the movement.
The disastrous collapse of the movement since its overthrow in Egypt in 2013 has become even more dramatic amid a leadership row between its two main diasporas in Istanbul and London. And while the Istanbul wing led by Mahmoud Hussein, the Brotherhood’s long-time secretary-general, and the Mounir-led London wing continue to bicker, the movement has seen the emergence of a third front: hundreds of jailed Brotherhood youths who accuse the exiled leaders in Istanbul and London of ignoring their plight in prison.
