CAIRO: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood this week showed one of the few signs of anger toward Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to the country, lashing out at his calls for Egypt to be a secular state and form a constitution based on those principles. During his two-day visit to Egypt, Turkey's PM was outspoken in his belief that Egypt could be a moderate Islamic country much like his own Turkey. Hundreds of Egyptians gathered to welcome the Turkish leader, who won widespread support for his expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Ankara and the cutting off of diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said in a statement released by the Islamic group that Erdogan's comments constituted foreign intervention into Egypt's internal issues. He said that it would be impossible to apply Turkey's political reality to Egypt. Erdogan said on the television program that “a secular state does not mean that the people are atheists, it means respect for all religions and each individual has the freedom to practice his own religion.” He added that “99 percent of the population in Turkey are Muslims, there are Christians, Jews and minorities, but the state treats them equally and this is recognized by Islam and has been true throughout Islamic history.” Essam el-Erian, deputy leader of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party said, “we welcome Turkey and we welcome Erdogan as a prominent leader but we do not think that he or his country alone should be leading the region or drawing up its future.” Despite the criticism, many younger members of the Brotherhood have for a number of years, pushed for greater reforms internally within the group in an effort to promote many ideas similar to the Turkish model, which has enabled an Islamic government to take power. BM
