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Russia replaces Turkey and US in Egypt

Arab World Materials 11 February 2015 22:00 (UTC +04:00)
The overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has been repeatedly assessed by a number of states as a coup.
Russia replaces Turkey and US in Egypt

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

The overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has been repeatedly assessed by a number of states as a coup.

Egypt faced the harshest criticism from Turkey and Qatar, which considered the Muslim Brotherhood as their political allies in the region. No Arab country, except for Qatar, has opposed the coup in Egypt.

Turkey's president and other officials of the country have repeatedly stated that they will continue to support Egypt's democratically elected government, that is, the Muslim Brotherhood.

But at the same time, Ankara said that it would not interfere in the domestic affairs of this Arab country.

It was expected that Qatar, just like Turkey, wouldn't give up its stance on Egypt, but this didn't happen, and the Qatari authorities have started rapprochement with Egypt.

But what made Qatar change its position with respect to Egypt?

Qatar's open support for the Muslim Brotherhood led several Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates to recall their ambassadors from Doha on March 5, 2014.

On the following day, Egypt also recalled its ambassador from Qatar. Moreover, almost all the Gulf countries declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Such developments could have led to the absolute isolation of Qatar in the Gulf Cooperation Council (founded in 1981), which was inadmissible for it.

At the same time, Qatar didn't want to lose its role as mediator among Arab states. For instance, Qatar was a mediator in the negotiations between Fatah and Hamas in 2006, between the government of Yemen and Shiite Houthi rebels in 2007, and between the government of Sudan and rebels in Darfur in 2008.

As for Egypt, after there was no hope of resuming the relations with Turkey, which allocated large loans, expressing hope to revive the economy of the Arab country, Cairo had to seek not only political but also economic allies.

In this regard, the Russian president's visit to Egypt should be considered as an important action to strengthen the relations between the Russian Federation and that Arab country.

Cairo not only needs relations with Moscow, but Moscow itself is extremely interested in the relations with Cairo.

Although the Egyptian president said that the relations with Russia will not affect the relations with the US, the friendly atmosphere at the talks between the presidents of Russia and Egypt can be considered as a signal especially for the US.

Relations with Russia are important for Egypt not only froman economic and political point of view but also from a military perspective.

Although the US supported military coup in Egypt against the "Muslim Brotherhood", it aroused the indignation of the Egyptian government when it delayed a shipment of several Apache helicopters, which are very important for the Egyptian army.

It is not ruled out that the Russian president's visit to Egypt gave Cairo hope that it will be able to fill this gap with the help of Russia in the future.

During the visit, an agreement to establish a free trade zone was also reached, and the first meeting of the working group on the establishment of such a zone between Egypt and the EAU will be held in March-April in Cairo.

In addition, the parties signed a number of agreements in the field of investment attraction and participation in the construction of facilities on the territory of Egypt, as well as an agreement to develop the project for the construction of nuclear power plant on the territory of the Arab Republic.

Edited by CN

Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu

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