Researcher at Sorbonne University: Some opposition parties in Syria and Egypt were supported by Turkey

Catherine Gaber, a researcher at Sorbonne University in France, has told North-Press about the calls for demonstrations in Egypt, that demonstrations and protests are a legitimate right of all peoples, but the waves of the Arab Spring and the resulting domination of religious currents supported by abroad countries, have made the international community step back and take a neutral position to legitimate calls for change.
While the religious currents have risen in Egypt and other Arab countries, Western capitals and cities have faced ideas influenced by the rise of religious currents, which in turn have led to attacks that hold an Islamic nature, “terrorist and extremist” in the West, and have caused the loss of international legitimacy to the legitimate movement.
Catherine believes that what is more important than the calls for demonstration is to have a crystallized political vision that can win the trust and popular support as well as international support.
The leaders of the movement must be responsible for possessing political proposals that solve problems and challenges, such as corruption and poverty, which calls for demonstrations occur to confront them, through the presentation of organized political parties and groups that take their time to convince the street of their ability to be legal alternative parties through legitimate elections, in addition to putting right and entitled people to lead this movement, and not the people with the most support and funding from abroad, so that they can educate the public about their rights and the difference between freedom and demagoguery.
Regarding whether such political and partisan action is possible in Egypt under President al-Sisi, the researcher says that political work in Egypt in all its periods was largely possible, despite the fact that presidents of military backgrounds came to power since Gamal Abdel Nasser till al-Sisi, as these were national figures who respect the Egyptian Constitution and established laws, and there is always a boundary for legal political work.
However, what sometimes gives an excuse for governments that rule with a firm fist to oppress various political opposition groups, is that these groups come from backgrounds supported by the outside with visions that implement agendas of foreign countries and not their country, this is the case of many countries in the region and the world, not only for Egypt.
“For example, in Syria and Egypt, some of the opposition parties were clearly supported by Turkey, and wanted to implement the political Islam agenda, which are seen by Turkey as an option for the country. If we took into consideration the historical and political realities that confirm Turkey’s interest in having weak and dependent governments in Syria and Egypt, this means that these oppositions lead the countries, in the end, to failure and fulfill interests of others, which won’t, certainly, fulfill the interests of citizens and solve the real challenges in terms of unemployment, corruption, poverty, poor education and others”, Catherine Gaber added.
“When advocating for change through demonstrations without an alternative political vision, we must remember that the strength of the current Egyptian government is not only because of its firm fist, but also because it has created alternatives to Morsi government, which concerned the international community and led Egypt into an experiment closer to the Islamic Republic system experiment”, Gaber said.
“The government of al-Sisi enjoys excellent relations with the United States and allies in the Gulf States and has an integrated vision as a strong and pivotal Arabic and Muslim country fighting terrorism and Islamic extremism, as such strengths have nothing to do with the idea of an oppressive government, while demonstrating with the lack of these strong points and alternatives to solve other challenges will not lead to solutions for the problems of Egyptian young people”, she added.