Will Egypt’s arrest of Brotherhood leader push group to Turkey, Qatar?
Turkey’s ruling party has close links to the group, as does Hamas in Gaza and Qatar’s monarchy.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANMahmoud Ezzat, deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, attends a news conference in Cairo May 30, 2010(photo credit: REUTERS/AMR ABDALLAH DALSH)
Seven years after Egypt’s military pushed the Muslim Brotherhood from power, the country has captured the movement’s top leader, Mahmoud Ezzat.Ezzat is known as the “acting general guide” of the organization, which has deep roots in the history of modern Egypt. The current government of Egypt under Abdel Fatah al-Sisi views the Brotherhood as a terrorist group. The Brotherhood is also considered a terrorist group in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.However, Turkey’s ruling party has close links to the group, as does Hamas in Gaza and Qatar’s monarchy, meaning the battle with the Brotherhood is part of a regional conflict.The Muslim Brotherhood came to power in Egypt after the fall of Hosni Mubarak during the Arab Spring protests. However, it only governed for a year under former president Mohammed Morsi. Pushed from power during mass protests in 2013, Morsi died in 2019 while on trial. His death was condemned by Turkey.Countries that oppose the Islamic group have encouraged the Trump administration to declare it a terrorist group similar to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The US has not done so.Egypt has largely seen the Brotherhood disappear from the country’s civil society since its overthrow and a crackdown. In 2015 Mahmoudd Gozlan, the group’s spokesman, said the group would respond nonviolently to the crackdowns. His son has also been arrested. The lack of violence by the group is notable.This was considered surprising at the time, because past eras of Egyptian history have shown that these types of groups can lead to uprisings and terror attacks.The radicalization that led to the murder of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and also led Egyptian fugitives to support al-Qaeda was part of that process in the past. Today, however, Egypt’s only real insurgency is ISIS attacks in Sinai. Ezzat avoided authorities for seven years, despite being 76 years old. He faces a death sentence.Ezzat has been here before. He was detained in 2005 as well during roundups of his group. He was accused in 2010 of having realigned the group’s ideology with Sayyed Qutb, the former leader who was executed in the 1960s.What becomes of the Brotherhood now? It has supporters at the highest levels in Turkey and also in Qatar, as well as Hamas and among the government of the National Accord in Libya. It has also had supporters in Kuwait, Sudan and Jordan among other states. In July, a court in Jordan dissolved a Brotherhood-aligned party.A report in Al-Ain in the Gulf notes that the group has a supreme administrative committee that has sought to move elements of the leadership aboard. This means that it can operate from Turkey, Qatar or other places. The report says that Egyptian security services found encrypted programs on phones and computers after the Ezzat raid.The capture of Ezzat is considered a blow to the group, even though it is not clear what Ezzat has been up to for the last seven years or how he has controlled the group, given the full power of the Egyptian security forces arrayed against it.In the past, these kinds of arrests of senior figures have strained tensions with Turkey. Egypt has already warned Turkey about increased intervention in Libya and has ratified a deal with Greece over managing the Mediterranean, which is a way to keep Turkey from its own claims and deals with Libya.Clearly, Egypt and Ankara are on a collision course, one that will also involve allies of both countries. Egypt’s allies include Greece, Cyprus, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Israel, which has a peace deal with Egypt and now an agreement with the UAE, is also on the side of Cairo and Abu Dhabi. Turkey, Hamas and Qatar oppose this alliance, as does Iran.
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