“Man will ultimately be governed by God or by Tyrants.” Benjamin Franklin
The issue of religion and the state is one of the most burning social issues in the Middle East. From Tahrir Square in Egypt to Taksim Square in Turkey people are protesting the same thing: people are battling over theocracy or democracy, and the disagreement arises from the question about what should be the supreme authority. The choice is between the will of the people as expressed through laws passed by democratically elected government and interpreted by the judiciary or the will of God as passed down through sacred writings interpreted by religious group leaders such as Fethullah Gülen, an imam, or Mohammed Badie, the “Supreme Guide” of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Should Turkey or Egypt, as Muslim states, bring their cultures and societies into conformity with the Quran whenever possible or should society be essentially secular but rely on Turkish or Arab culture for its values, history, symbols and ceremonies? Should the Turkish and the Egyptian society be as similar as possible compared to western countries? Is Islam a personal matter or should it at least be treated as a personal entity or is it a political and communal entity? The debate questions whether Islam can change or not and to what degree Islam dictates the social, political, and economical variables of society. The answers to these questions are crucial in determining laws of divorce, the status of women, the definition and characteristics of new constitutions such as the Turkish one, regulations for conducting business and services, school system curriculum, banking, and many other important aspects of Muslim society. The problem arising out of the Arab Spring is that the protestors do not want the current system, but they do not have any other alternative system of government that they can adopt.
Former President Morsi, who came to power a little more than a year ago, promised to reestablish an inclusive democratic government, but many secular Egyptians viewed Morsi as an authoritarian ruler whose government did not do anything after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Recently Morsi was removed by a military coup. Some of the commentators are already calling this the end of Arab Spring. The West and the United States were hesitant to use the word military coup instead calling it military intervention. I have never seen a military coup that has been celebrated with fireworks.
The current coup in Egypt shows that the battle is between theocracy and democracy, because the Islamic experimentation with democracy has failed. Morsi was more of a populist than a pragmatist. He resorted to religious expression to label whoever did not agree with him and his ideology considered them non-believers. In the same tactic of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who denounced the June peaceful demonstrators in Turkey as “a few looters” and “a few Bums,” Morsi and Prime Minister Erdogan have repeatedly blamed the remnants of the former secular regime for the injustice and oppression.
When Prime Minister Erdogan came to power, the world was very suspicious of him because of his past political affiliation with the Islamic party. How then did Erdogan manage to stay in power so long? Erdogan, helped by the Muslim missionary group, the Gülen Movement, consistently denied that they were an Islamic party and did not use religion as a reference point until they accrued all the power. Instead they considered themselves as democrats and focused on the economy and reforms with the help of the European Union and the United States. Prime Minister Erdogan and Gulenists worked hard to reduce the influence of the military and thereby eliminate its role as well as that of the judiciary. The police were already under the control of Gülen’s movement because he infiltrated his people in the police, the judiciary, and the military two decades ago. On the other hand, yes, the Muslim Brotherhood was well organized, but they were not ready to rule the country yet because they were not organized in the military, police, judiciary and civilian bureaucracy. During his first year in office Morsi faced opposition from the military, and he could not gain control of any of the necessary systems of the police, the military, or even the judiciary, and he could not make any reforms.
Forcefully overthrowing a democratically elected government will polarize Egypt, and it will not be the end of the demonstrations. Let’s hope this will not lead to civil war. I think the coup will make the Brotherhood stronger because now they will be considered the victim. If the coup had not have happened or had happened earlier, I don’t think Morsi would able to solve all the problems, especially the economy. Then the country would go to the elections, and the Brotherhood would have been considered a failure.
The other question is how this will impact the region, especially Turkey. Can something happen in Turkey? I do not think there can be a military coup in Turkey because most of the generals are in jail, and the police are under the control of the Gulenists’ missionary group. The intelligence is totally under the control of Prime Minister Erdogan; however, it is a serious blow to Prime Minister Erdogan, because he lost his key ally in the region since Morsi enjoyed a close relation with Ankara. The military coup in Egypt definitely will harm Turkey’s role in the area because the Turkish government will not be able to have a close relation with the Egyptian military. Further, given the war in Syria, political turmoil in Iraq, and the Kurdish peace process, Turkey will face an insecure Middle East, especially among devout Muslims. Many protestors were already complaining about the current Turkish government for not obeying the principles of secularism, that is separation of church and state. The state, in other words, the polity, cannot mingle with religion, and religion should not mingle with the state; however, the secular government did impose a sanction on Muslims who practiced their faith; it banned the head scarf in public institutions in Turkey and jailed many Brotherhood members, but when the Islamic government took power, it also imposed Islamic rules on secularists as well.
There are several things that went wrong with Morsi ‘s government. Morsi was the first Egyptians Islamic president since Egypt got its independence from Britain in 1953. Second, Morsi inherited corrupt institutions and an economic recession from the Mubarak regime, so the biggest mistake Morsi made was that when he came to power, he promised to improve Egypt’s economy within three months. However, the economy collapsed, making it hard for people to find a job and thus to meet their daily needs. Because of the demonstrations, Egyptian tourism decreased, and foreigner companies withdrew their investments as soon as Morsi came to power because of Morsi’s political orientation toward extremism. This caused Morsi to look for loans from other countries and to become dependent on other economies. President Morsi knew the world was watching him, and that they were already suspicious of his government. Instead of fixing the economy, however, he tried to transform Egypt into an Islamic state.
Muslims vary in their opinion on specific rights, from the moderate to conservative, so they failed to develop a coherent and consistent basis of law for human rights. For example in Turkey, many Kurdish intellectuals, politicians, journalists, academician are still in jail. We have to keep in mind that there is no such thing as moderate Islam or secular Islam; Islam is Islam; therefore, Islamists have not abandoned the objectives of establishing Islamic states and public order based on Islamic rule of law.
The lesson Erdogan should learn from the coup is that if elections can be held without a guarantee of individual human rights, the rule of law, the separation of powers, and checks and balances, there will be new majoritarian tyrannies rise up and oppress the right of minorities like the way Gulenists in Turkey and the Brotherhood in Egypt tried to do. The electoral authoritarianism does not make a person or a country democratic. The God I know rules by the ultimate justice and impartiality. To strive for this perfect model, a democratic state should serve as one of justice, love, and compassion not judgment, condemnation and exclusion; and it should preach peace, challenge poverty, liberate women, and defend the weak.
The argument in favor of a constitution shows the need for a document that would bind all the state institutions, including the legislature, and would serve as the basis of the rules by which the state functions. The value of constitutions is in advancing the melting pot process and not in serving only one ideology, but rather all. Since Turkey and Egypt attained their independence, the clash of ideologies has been a chief ingredient in each country’s social, economical, and political structures. The protests point toward the major tier of this clash of ideologies. For decades, the secularists were the main actors with a monopoly on Turkish politics, shaping the Turkish identity and social values, but now they are replaced by the Gülen’s version of Islam who was previously on the margins. It will be hard for democracy to grow in a region where large parts of the population hold radically different ideas of about democracy and definitions of democracy regarding the purpose of the states and the rights of individuals. Egypt, like other nations in the region, will have a very tough ride.
Dr. Aland Mizell is with the University of Mindanao School of Social Science, President of the MCI and a regular contributor to The Kurdistan Tribune, Kurdishaspect.com, Mindanao Times and Kurdish Media.You may email the author at:aland_mizell2@hotmail.com