Turkey’s coup failed everywhere, except in Egyptian media

Screen shot,Al-Ahram, the flagship state-owned newspaper announced in its main headline “Turkish army overthrows Erdogan”. On Friday, July
15, in the throes of Turkey's deep crisis which left international media
befuddled by who was truly in power, numerous Egyptian media outlets jumped the
gun in their reportage. They prematurely declared that the attempted coup had ended
in success, heralding the Turkish army's control over the country and overthrow
of President Erdogan.

Within hours of
the start of the attempted coup, these outlets exposed their unprofessionalism by
falling prey to propaganda. Despite confirmed news sources proving that the
democratically-elected government remained in charge, and people taking to the
streets to support Turkish democracy, several Egyptian state-run as well as
privately owned newspapers came out on Saturday, July 16, with headlines and
front pages showing a different trajectory.

Telepathy syndrome

State-run
newspaper Al-Ahram main front page banner headline stated that the
Turkish Armed Forces succeeded in ousting President Erdogan. The red headline said
“The Turkish army overthrows Erdogan” and was followed by the
subhead “The armed forces seize power, declare martial law and Recep Tayyip
vanishes." 

State-owned Akhbar
Al-Youm, announced in its main headline “A military coup in Turkey,” while the subhead said “The military announced it has taken over to
protect democracy and human rights, Erdogan calls on supporters to take to the
streets to safeguard legitimacy.” 

Taken in this
light, Egyptian newspaper’s choice of the word “legitimacy” is a reminder of
when former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was mocked for repeating the same
word in his final late-night televised speeches when he addressed the nation
before being ousted by his army generals three years ago.

Egypt’s
privately-owned newspapers had been faring just as badly when it came to their
lopsided coverage of the recent tectonic events in Turkey. Under the headline “The army topples Erdogan,” Al-Masry Al-Youm
newspaper seems to have duplicated Al-Ahram’s headline, however, suggesting
their similar biased ideologies.

Other privately-owned
newspapers, such as Al-Watan, not only ran the headline “The army takes over, deposes Erdogan,” its subhead also reported that
Erdogan tried to claim asylum in Germany at the height of the military coup,
citing unreliable western sources.

Unlike the other
Egyptian print media outlets that failed dismally at journalism and excelled at
propaganda, it was only the privately-owned Al-Shorouk newspaper that delivered
impartial and balanced coverage. It ran a headline on its front page entitled “An attempted coup in Turkey, Erdogan announces quashing it.” 

Aside from printed
newspapers, the Egyptian news website Al-Youm Al-Sabea published a report
on its social media account naming “the reasons that led
to Erdogan’s fall." The most important of which was Erdogan's animosity towards
Egypt.

However, when
Erdogan had largely succeeded in quashing the coup, Al-Youm Al-Sabea
resorted to publishing a story that claimed the coup was merely an “epic theatrical act” put on by Erdogan himself.

“A revolution, not a military coup”

Anyone who casually
swapped between Egyptian state-run or even privately-owned channels during the
chaotic early hours of Friday night knew that Erdogan's government was not in
favour.     

Ahmed Moussa, one
of the most popular TV presenters in Egypt, praised the military coup and the
Turkish army, defining the events as “a revolution, not a military coup.” Moussa, who hosts a TV show
broadcast on the privately-owned channel Sada El-Balad, continued by
saying: “Erdogan spent millions of US Dollars on terrorist groups…Erdogan has
to learn a lesson: there is a difference between the coup in Turkey and the
revolution in Egypt. He (Erdogan) relentlessly tried to label Egypt’s events on
June 30 as a coup.”

However, as the
events unfolded, Moussa shifted to describe the botched coup as an “ousting
trial”, hoping that by the end of his TV show, the military coup in Turkey would
succeed.

Similarly, the
Egyptian media personality Khairy Ramadan, who hosts a talk show on the
privately-owned TV channel CBC
described Turkish military action as a "revolution” and “retaliation” against Erdogan’s policy towards Egypt after the June
30 revolution and the overthrow of the former Islamist President Mohamed
Morsi.  

The Egyptian
talk-show host Osama Kamal first mocked Erdogan for appearing on CNN-Turk television, holding an interview via mobile phone during
the early hours of the military movement. Then, adopting the same strategy of
the news website Al-Youm Al-Sabea, Kamal claimed that Erdogan
might have “staged” Friday’s bloody coup to win
people’s sympathy and regain his popularity among Turkish citizens which had recently
declined.

Some
other Egyptian media figures avowedly voiced their opinions in the early hours
of Turkey’s attempted coup via their social network accounts, especially
Twitter.

Prominent
journalist and Egyptian MP Mostafa Bakry wrote
on Twitter: “The Turkish army declares seizing power. Go to hell Erdogan.” He
even wrote another controversial tweet: “Erdogan
has gone and [President Bashar] al-Assad remains. Long live the Syrian Arab
Army. Erdogan must be trialed as a war criminal."

Another
well-known TV anchor Youssef El Hosiny was gloating over Erdogan’s fall by
writing a tweet: “These terms will be circulated worldwide to describe what had
happened in Turkey: power transfer, restoring constitutional legitimacy,
toppling Erdogan, deposing the tyrant and Erdogan’s fall.”

Shortly after the army released a statement on Turkish TV
channels of seizing power, the Egyptian state and privately-owned channels were
brim with news tickers such
as: “Pro-army demonstrations in Turkey, chants against Erdogan,” “Erdogan flees
to Germany, seeks safe haven for him and his family,” “Erdogan threatens to
create bloodbaths to restore power,” and the like. It was painful to see.

Expected reaction

In former
President Mubarak's era, journalists were divided into two camps: with
the president or the opposition.

Today most
Egyptian journalists and media figures are siding with the military government.
This trend explains why Egyptian media swerved sharply to welcoming,
unabashedly, the Turkish military coup, let alone prematurely hailing Erdogan’s
overthrow. Tensions between Egypt and Turkey sparked after the
overthrow of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Since then, the
Turkish President, who was an avid supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and
Morsi, has been harshly condemning Egypt’s military government. He was even
seen flashing the four-finger Rabaa sign during several public speeches. Moreover,
many of the Muslim Brotherhood’s leaders found sanctuary in Turkey after
fleeing from the bloody crackdown in Rabaa and Nahda.

The animosity
between the two Middle Eastern countries reached a crescendo when Egypt
objected to a United Nations Security Council statement that urged all parties to "respect
the democratically elected government of Turkey." Egypt sees that the
council is "in no position to qualify or label that government – or any
other government for that matter – as democratically elected or not,"
according to UN diplomats.

On the other hand,
Erdogan excoriated President Sisi on his latest TV interview with Al-Jazeera, saying that he “has nothing to do with democracy. He killed thousands of his people."

In conclusion, one
could say that the antagonism between Egypt and Turkey will not come to an end
anytime soon, especially when both Sisi and Erdogan are still in power, and Egypt’s
media seems to be happy to play along with these political games.