Muslim Brotherhood’s ‘days are numbered’ in Turkiye
Islamists under threat from warming ties between Cairo and Ankara, analysts tell Arab News
The Muslim Brotherhood’s days of acceptance in Turkiye may be numbered amid warming ties between the Eyptian and Turkish presidents, analysts have told Arab News.
After Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo last week as part of a state visit, it emerged that Turkish authorities had rejected a citizenship request by Brotherhood secretary-general Mahmoud Hussein Ahmed Hassan, who has now sold his home in Istanbul.
Turkiye has taken several measures over the past two years to address Egypt’s demands for crackdowns on exiled Muslim Brotherhood members and the closure of media outlets in Istanbul that are critical of the Egyptian government. Prominent Muslim Brotherhood figures, media personalities, and academics have begun leaving Turkiye, while Egyptian dissidents in Turkiye face social media restrictions imposed by Turkish authorities.
In 2022, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Egyptian satellite channel Mekameleen TV moved its operations out of Turkiye. “Turkiye’s treatment of the Muslim Brotherhood elements is part of its rapprochement process with
Egypt, determined by both internal and external motivations,” Pinar Akpinar, an assistant professor at Qatar University, told Arab News.
Soner Cagaptay, senior fellow at the Washington Institute, told Arab News: “The reconciliation with Egypt represents the final and most challenging aspect of Turkiye’s ongoing efforts to reset relations with Middle Eastern powers. “For nearly a decade, Turkish relations with countries in the Middle East were strained primarily due to Ankara’s unilateral support for the Muslim Brotherhood starting in 2011. While Turkiye gradually repaired ties with other nations, Egypt remained the last hurdle, as El-Sisi has insisted on concrete steps from Turkiye to crack down on exiled Muslim Brotherhood members residing within its borders.”