It’s hard to find a common ground between people living in different countries where habits and ways of life are very different. Expectations are as different as the conditions and the perceptions. The first meeting of the Turkey-Egypt Talks, organized jointly by the Abant Platform and Al-Azhar University, sets a good example on how different conceptions can lead to different perceptions. Egyptians live among the ancient Egyptian civilization’s remains as simple tourists, without being a real part of it. Nasser’s Arab nationalism and the influence of Egypt over the Arab world, as the one who threw Western powers out of the Middle East, has faded after the recognition of Israel and cooperation with the US.
Responsibilities originated from history and geography have created an atmosphere in which the political system in Egypt has gained some sort of immunity. In this country, the national income per capita is $1,300 even if the official census results are incorrect. But in the index of being most satisfied with their lives Egypt ranks 11th after countries like Finland or Sweden. It’s hard to know if Egyptians really are happy or they’ve just accepted their situation because they don’t have any other choice. But it’s easy to see their opposition to some concepts as most of the Egyptians mistrust the “West.”
However, some of them think that for the modernization of their country, cooperating with the West is inevitable even if they are not trustful. We don’t know if the “West” comprises Japan or Australia but it’s certain that it includes European countries and the US.
“Westernization” means economic development, industrialization and getting the newest technology, and they believe that this process will transform mentalities sooner or later. A change in the governmental system, democracy or transparency are untold stories for the moment.
Meanwhile, some Egyptians perceive the West as the very source of their countries’ problems, thus more cooperation with the West wouldn’t do any good at all. They think that the West is the center of religious and cultural imperialism willing to destroy Islamic values. Thus Islam becomes a general identity transcending Egyptian-ness. This kind of Islamic identity is resistant and reactionary.
There is also the will to see Islam defeating the “West.” To achieve this they want to see a cooperative effort between Egypt, Turkey and Iran because these three have the potential to become regional powers. These Sunni circles in Egypt are willing to cooperate even with Iranian Shiites only because they can resist the West.
They also want to see Turkey stand against the “West.” For them, Turkish candidacy to the EU is not a contradiction at all, so maybe when they say “West,” they are talking about the US. Besides, Turkish membership to the EU is considered as the Islamification of Europe.
But Turkey doesn’t have that kind of mission or intention toward Europe at all. As Iran tries to break its isolation resulting from its anti-American policy, a key-player in the Middle East-Islam-West configuration like Saudi Arabia is neglected. That is to say, every kind of cooperation can be established in order to preserve regional stability, but it should be wise to test first its feasibility and its possible impact.
