Turkish-Egyptian rapprochement threatens Muslim brotherhood members in Ankara

According to a number of experts in Egypt, after recent reports on the Turkish-Egyptian rapprochement, the young members of the Muslim Brotherhood organization worry about the next scenarios, as the leadership ignores the situation.

The experts informed Asharq Al-Awsat that if the Turkish authorities started expelling certain wanted young men to Cairo, in the context of rapprochement, while those who don’t receive the support of the leaders would be sent back.

On his part, expert on fundamentalist movements, Amr Abdel Moneim, affirmed that the youth of the Brotherhood are in a state of confusion and uncertainty. He considered that Turkey’s decision to force anti-Cairo channels to follow the media licenses has led Brotherhood youth in confusion.

Moreover, certain of them consider that the channels would be permanently close, or members would be offered to Egypt, as occurred in February 2019 with Mohammad Abdel Hafeez.

About the possibility of expelling young people and certain leaders in the next period, Abdel Moneim clarified that about a year ago, several Egyptians got exceptional nationalities or permanent residencies. Nevertheless, there is a matter of the members with death sentences, whom that Cairo want, in what the expert said, adding that there are 8,000 Muslim Brotherhood members in Turkey with their families, and almost 3,000 activists.

Three scenarios for the Brotherhood member’s future

Furthermore, Abdel Moneim proposed three scenarios for the future of the Brotherhood’s members and their channels in Turkey after the rapprochement with Cairo. The first scenario is not to induce matters for the Turkish authorities with Egypt, the second is to find alternatives in other countries, while the third is an individual leaving to Canada, the Netherlands, or Malaysia, or a wide departure to countries that are seeking to have them under an intelligence framework, like Iran and Malaysia.

However, Brotherhood leaders see that Turkish citizenship and media positions could no longer protect them. In the meantime, Ahmed Zaghloul, a researcher specializing in fundamentalist movements in Egypt, noted that the developments of the Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement present a threat for the youth of the organization in Ankara, particularly those who don’t have any protection from any leader.

The visit of Turkish diplomatic delegation to Cairo                 

About the rapprochement between Ankara and Cairo, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu declared that a senior Turkish diplomatic delegation would visit Cairo in May.

Whereas, Zaghloul considered Turkey’s decision to oblige media to obey to the charters as instructions just to control the Muslim Brotherhood media, noting that deportation has always been a problem for young members since the leaders have their personal measures. He also said that it’s probably that if the youths are sent back, they would not include those who are backed by the leaders.

It should indicate that a number of prominent Brotherhood youth are condemned to life imprisonment or hard work, and the leaders would not hand them over. A lot of them have got Turkish residency and have created a network of international ties that may offer protection, particularly with human rights organizations.

Zaghloul also noted that the Brotherhood channels would work to control its rhetoric in the next period, and the leaders would seek to use international ties to attain their gains.

Besides, many organization’s youth in Ankara complain that the leadership has totally abandoned them, after they were pledged to obtain identification papers that could enable them to travel outside the country, in what observers said.