Morsi Prevents Egyptfrom Following Turkish Pattern | ||
Morsi Prevents Egyptfrom Following Turkish Pattern Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi ordered top General Hussein Tantawi to retire and canceled the addendum to the constitutional declaration issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), producing different analyses in recent days.
End to Military Role in Politics Even some are pessimistic about the recent developments, dismissing it as an agreement between the army and Muslim Brotherhood. But the reality is apparently something else. Morsi’s decision, in fact, prevented Egypt from following the Turkish pattern. The democratic mechanism in Turkey allows the election of president, members of parliament, and ministers of cabinet, but this democratic structure is highly influenced by the country’s top army commanders, who play a major role in making decisions about Turkey’s political and security measures. Turkey’s top military officials, in fact, lay great stress on the need for preserving the system’s secularity while confronting the Islamists. Before the victory of revolution in Egypt on January 25, the military had a significant influence on the country’s affairs and its dominance had been achieved during six decades. The regime of Hosni Mubarak had a democratic appearance, but it was, in fact, a dictatorship and was ruled by the military’s iron first. After the victory of Egypt’s victory, parliamentary election was held and later Mohamed Morsi was elected in the country’s presidential elections. The army that Mubarak had developed in several decades had a major row with the new president on the president’s prerogatives and it was so serious that was considered a big blow to the popular revolution. In the meantime, the issue of prerogatives caused a considerable tension among the Egyptian president, Islamists, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, and Supreme Constitutional Court in the recent months. But the attack in Sinai Peninsula on August 5, 2012 that left 16 Egyptian soldiers dead was a good opportunity for Morsi to take back his authorities, prevent Egypt from turning to a country like Turkey, where the military commanders and not politicians have the final say. Following the people’s rage over the military’s failure to support the Egyptian soldiers, President Morsi ousted the Mubarak-era top officials. Morsi ordered General Tantawi to retire after 20 years and dismissed the intelligence chief MuradMuwafi and the army’s chief of staff Sami Hafez Anan, who was known as a main opponent of the president’s reform plans. Morsi appointed three to do the ousted officials’ jobs. Morsi counted on the division among Egypt’s top military officials for the success of his courageous decisions and prevention of coup. He secretly met with new military commanders, informing them of changes. After they reached an agreement, Morsi made the changes and gave the ousted commanders honorary roles as advisers to ease their concern about possible trial for cooperation with the regime of Mubarak. No doubt, Morsi’s audacious decisions help the president regain his powers and reduce the role of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces so that the army will have no right to make decisions about political affairs. Morsi’s appointment of senior judge Mahmoud Makki as vice president and cancelation of the addendum to the constitutional declaration prevent the government from interfering in judicial affairs and help revise Egypt’s constitution according to the will of the revolutionaries. Makki was a popular judiciary official, who strongly voiced his opposition to the government’s interference in judicial affairs in the Mubarak era. Following his reconciliatory decisions about the military, thepresident of Egypt has been faced with growing pressure fromWashington to avoid changing Cairo’s stances on the regionparticularly on security agreements with the Zionist regime. On the other hand, Israel did not hide his concern about changes in Egypt’s military, warning lack of bilateral security coordination will cause great problems in the future. Now the questions are: Can Morsicarry out his courageous decisions and reforms or will the interests of the United States and Israel in the region be alongside the interests of those who were damaged by Morsi’s decision to stage a coup against the new president of Egypt? The news channel Aljazeera broadcast a report that said Morsi’s recent decisions changed the power equation in Egypt, underlining that the ouster of defense minister and senior military officials by Morsi is considered an end to the military’s role in the country’s political affairs. The report referred to Morsi’s thoughtful and gradual policy in the recent months, calling it an introduction to his rapid changes. | ||
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