When Time magazine named Pope Francis its person of the year, most of the resulting debate centred on whether Egypt's Defence Minister Abdel Fatah el-Sisi or Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan should have won instead. But in Egypt, the outrage was of a different nature. In the eyes of his supporters, Egypt's army chief General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who overthrew Mohamed Morsi this summer, has been robbed of his rightful title. Neither of them has won the prestigious title despite of Sisis's victory in a readers' poll on the website of the American magazine to the outrage of his supporters in Egypt. They are right to be furious but they do not know the fact that such a voting has no bearing on the final decision of the editors. The first winner, announced in 1927, was Charles Lindburgh, who had made headlines for his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Last year's winner was US president Barack Obama, who won his second term in office.
According to Time, the award is "bestowed by the editors on the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year." Among the 44 people that Time included in an online poll about the Person of the Year were Erdogan and Sisi, who led the military to overthrow Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in June after millions of Egyptians took to the streets to protest his government. When the online voting concluded on December 4th, Sisi had collected the most votes of any candidate, over 590,000, while Erdogan was second, with 470,000. The only other candidate that was close was American singer Miley Cyrus, who had 340,000. Time noted, however, Sisi and Erdogan did so well because of "massive support" from their own countries. Egyptian news sites, for instance, kept readers updated on how Sisi was faring against the Turkish premier. So we asked some experts on the Middle East if they thought that Erdogan or Sisi had a chance to be named BY THE EDITORS as the person who most affected the "news and our lives" in 2013.The answer was a definite: No. John Esposito, professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University and the director of the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding at Georgetown, said it was a matter of timing. "The question for me with Erdogan, for person of the year, becomes why this past year?", Esposito said. "If Erdogan had been picked before these last series of problems that he had [over public protests] one would've said this is a kind of culminating thing," said Esposito. "Turkey was playing a major role not only in its support for Arab democracy but also for its strong leadership against what was happening in Syria. "But Erdogan's position, and Turkey's position, has been a bit upstaged, particularly by the extent that other countries, particularly Russia, as regards to Syria, are now on the scene as regional players and the extent to which it has also brokered peace with Iran, Erdogan and his government are not out there as really key players. It's hard to see the Erdogan case." The case for Sisi isn't much better, he added. "Sisi has no name outside of Egypt, he has no charisma outside of Egypt," Esposito said. "Egypt is not going to see Sisi become some kind of major player, although Sisi has remained in power and could be elected president if the elections were held fairly soon." Esposito compared Sisi to Iran's late leader the Ayatollah Khomeni, who was welcomed at first by many, but his dark side began to emerge over time. With Sisi it seems to be showing right away. "You do have a military led coup, and in the post-coup period he was responsible for some for massacres. And he has broadened that vision to not just simply replace the Morsi government, but in contrast to his initial promise to have an inclusive government, has actually moved to literally eradicate that movement through violent, massive arrests, military trials, and more recently is now arresting non-Islamists who are critics of the regime." Esposito called the Morsi-led coup an "interesting event" but not one that has a lot of significance outside Egypt, except for it is a "prime example of the ability of the democratic wave in the region to be brought down through a whole set of circumstances including support from some regional players such as Saudi Arabia, etc." "The fact is that Egypt's role and even its political role has not been that strong in recent years, and there's no indication of that now, other than the fact that Sisi enjoys the support of other Arab governments that fear the democracy wave coming to their country. So it's not as if Egypt, and Sisi in particular, are strong known regional players. Sisi had no reputation in the region, and even within Egypt was like a second-tier general. So it's not like Sisi was a household name." Chrisopher Rose, the Outreach Director at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas, said that he wasn't surprised that Erdogan and Sisi did so well in the online polling as both countries, particularly Turkey, are well known for their participation in online polls. But he also thinks that neither man really has a chance to be named Person of the Year. "It's kind of interesting that in Erdogan we have an actually democratically elected leader who showed up on our list for once," Rose said. "Love him or hate him. With Sisi you know, he's a guy who's going to set it right, who is definitely a newsmaker in 2013. Is he person of the year? I don't think so. Actually I don't think either one of them are person of the year. But I think there's something to be said that they both made a splash on the international political scene." But if one of the two men had been picked, the reactions in their countries probably would have been very different, Rose added. "In Turkey's case I think that part of it would be nationalist pride. But with with Sisi, I think it would be hands-down seen as meddling by the US in Egyptian affairs. I think one of the things that has really struck me about this situation on the part of the people in Egypt on social media and other commentators, is they really just want Europe and the US to stay out of it. They want to be allowed to fight this battle no matter where it goes. "And I think something like Time magazine, even though it's not a mouthpiece for the American government by any stretch of the imagination, I think if they were to select Sisi as their man of the year it will be seen as an endorsement by the US of what he's done and it would be incredibly unpopular," Rose said. "I think that people who like him would see it as a vote of confidence, and I think the people that don't like him would resent the US kind of stepping in behind him. I just don't think it would be a very popular move in Egypt." Professor Juan Cole, Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan and the publisher and writer of the popular blog, Informed Comment, said he could see a slight argument being made for the Egyptian general. "With Sisi I could see an argument," he said. "I may not see much with Erdogan this year, because this year the only thing everyone is known for internationally is his crackdown on for the protesters in Gazi Park. First of all even in Turkish politics it's insignificant. It's not a game changer I don't think. It may actually harm his chance to be president if it detracts from his popularity. But similar things happened elsewhere, including in Brazil, so I don't think that's probably the big story here." But El-Sisi led a "coup," Cole said, and it was a "very significant coup." "The supporters of this change of government don't like to hear it called a coup, but let's face it that's what it was. It did have popular support, which is what they mean when they don't like it to be called a coup. It wasn't as if a small group of colonels plotted to overthrow the Constitution, a junta. It was millions of people on the street demanding change of which the military then took heed. So I called it a revo-couption." Cole agreed with Rose that if Sisi had won, it would not have necessarily been welcomed in Egypt. "The Egyptians would be divided," he said. "The Sisi supporters, and the supporters of the overthrow, would see it as vindication. Although they shouldn't because remember Time is just saying you change the world for better or for worse. It shouldn't be interpreted as an endorsement. But I think it would be taken by Sisi supporters in Egypt as an endorsement. But people who were not in favor of the coup, such as the Muslim Brotherhood or the Coalition Against the Coup, would see it as American interference."
