The New York Times has published an article titled “Turkey and Egypt Look to Team Up Amid Tumult” that looks at what it believes to be an emerging alliance between Egypt and Turkey. The article begins:
October 18, 2012 With war on Turkey’s borders, and political and economic troubles in Egypt, the two countries have turned to each other for support, looking to build an alliance that could represent a significant geopolitical shift in the Middle East prompted by the Arab Spring, uniting two countries with regional ambitions each headed by parties with roots in political Islam. Egypt and Turkey are considering plans to lift visa restrictions and recently completed joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea. Turkey has offered a host of measures to bolster Egypt’s economy, including a $2 billion aid package. There is even talk of Turkey’s helping Egypt to restore its Ottoman-era buildings. A wider-ranging partnership is expected to be announced in the coming weeks when the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party shares an Islamist pedigree with Egypt’s leadership, goes to Cairo. The emerging alliance springs from the earthquake that shook the regional order when Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, was ousted and from the civil war in Syria. Though Egypt’s position had long been compromised by its economic frailty and failing diplomatic might, it remained an anchor of the region in an alliance with Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Egypt often tangled with Turkey as both vied for the hearts and minds of the Arab street, with Turkey increasingly presenting itself as the champion of the Palestinians, often to Mr. Mubarak’s embarrassment.
Read the rest here.
Readers of a 2011 report from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) would have been advised well ahead of the New York Times about the growing role of Turkey in the Global Muslim Brotherhood. The abstract of that report states:
There is strong evidence for Turkish governmental involvement in the Gaza flotilla incident, with Turkish government support channeled through the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood network. Since 2006, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim Brotherhood.
With respect to the Global Muslim Brotherhood, report’s second conclusion states:
The Gaza flotilla incident brought into sharp focus an even more significant long- term development: the growing relationship between the Erdogan government and the Global Muslim Brotherhood, which has given rise to some of the most notorious Islamist terrorist groups – from al-Qaeda to Hamas. Since 2006, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim Brotherhood, while the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip acted as the main axis for this activity.