A member of the Egyptian Parliament has called for providing political asylum to Fethullah Gulen who is accused of plotting the recent failed coup attempt in Turkey.
The Egyptian PM presented an urgent statement to the parliament to the Egyptian government calling for providing a political asylum to Fetullah Gulen as Turkey is hosting Egyptian opposition , reported Reuters.
The Egyptian-Turkish relations have deteriorated after the ouster of the first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi in a military coup led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2013.
Several Brotherhood live in exile in Turkey, having fled a bloody crackdown on Islamists following the military coup. In many occasions, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has attacked the Egyptian government and condemned the military coup against Morsi.
In this context, Egyptian MP Emad Mahrous said,” I behaved according to my Egyptian patriotism and sentiment as Turkey is hosting members of Muslim Brotherhood group which is banned in Egypt.”
He added,”The treatment should be in the same way, Fethullah Gulen is a fierce opponent of the Turkish regime and there is no problem to grant him the political asylum right.”
Mahrous said that both Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Foreign minister Sameh Shoukry are expected to attend a parliamentary meeting to negotiate his request to know, “Whether it is permissible or not”
Fetullah Gulen, who lives in a self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, the United States, is the first defendant in the failed military coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the democratically elected government in Turkey. He has a wide network of schools, charity institutions, and followers in Turkey and other places.
Erdogan accused Fethullah Gulen and his followers of forming “a parallel state” and plotting the military coup attempt late July 15 when rogue elements of the Turkish military tried to overthrow the country’s democratically-elected government, killing at least 246 people and injuring more than 2,100 others.
In this context, Ankara has presented an official request to the United States of America to extradite Gulen. The United States said that it will deal with the issue according to the law.
According to Reuters, the Egyptian MP said, “I wanted to prick Turkey in any issue through my urgent statement. ”
He added, ” They are insulting Egypt day and night and they host terrorists and Egypt’s opposition and this what pushed me to present this request.”
In fact, this wasn’t the first proposal for hosting Gulen in Egypt. Days ago, the Egyptian Journalist and TV program presenter, Ahmed Al-Moslimani, who is close to the Egyptian regime circles, suggested that “Egypt should host if the U.S. decided to extradite him,” as reported by Middle East Observer last Friday. Al-Moslimani said -in his “The First Edition” TV program, that is broadcast on the Egyptian pro-regime Dream TV channel- that “Gulen is an innovating Islamic thinker who has Islamic community thoughts that introduce an image of Islam that is different from that introduced by the terrorists and the hard-line currents of the political Islam.”
