A few days ago, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated a bridge, the third of its kind on the Bosphorus, dubbed the Sultan Selim Bridge. The name and its political significance did not catch the attention of many people, and perhaps the majority of the public did not even notice the event; after all, bridges are built and inaugurated every week in cities worldwide. However, observers carefully following developments in Turkey, and possibly experts on Arab-Turkish relations, noticed that “Sultan Selim" was chosen deliberately following the revolutions of the Arab Spring, and growing Turkish influence in the countries ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, on account of Erdogan himself being of the Brotherhood. This is not to mention the continuous evocation of the so-called Turkish model by the Islamists in general and the Muslim Brotherhood in particular, as something that Egypt and Tunisia will replicate in the future. So why was Selim I chosen? Well, this was the Sultan who conquered Syria and Egypt, led the Ottoman Empire, and was the first Sultan to call himself “caliph." Perhaps Erdogan and his government did not intend this exactly as it was understood by those who believe that Turkey's regional role, along with the Muslim Brotherhood administration of Egypt, Tunisia, and perhaps Syria in the future, may restore with some modernization the Ottoman experience. Indeed so when Erdogan succeeded in reining in the army, guaranteed US and Western support, and achieved considerable economic growth that has been reflected on the lives of ordinary Turks. Generally speaking, the Egyptians are deeply interested in the developments in Turkey: Those who are in favor of Erdogan's experience, among the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist factions, are concerned for the fate of the experience. But those who are always opposed to Islamist rule, anywhere and in any form, believe or wish that there would be a revolution in Turkey, and that the goals of the Arab Spring, which did not lead to the results they had hoped for, would perhaps materialize in the “Turkish Summer"! Whatever the reasons for the events in Turkey, whether they are just a "quarrel" over Taksim Square or whether they have social, political or economic motives, even if they had been latent or "dormant" for a while and then awoke because of what happened in Taksim, what is interesting is the reaction of the Arab public and various Arab factions, and possibly also the regimes opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood. This is not to mention the segments that have suffered from the Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt and Tunisia, and also from the so-called “jihad" in Syria. Indeed, the enthusiasm for the Turkish “revolutionaries" was all too apparent, enthusiasm that bordered on gloating. For the factions that reacted as such, the events in Turkey were a model for what things should be in Egypt in June, that is, on the first anniversary of Dr. Mohamed Morsi taking the reins of power in the country. The various opposition forces have called on the masses to take to the streets on that day, to put pressure in order to make several gains, including the removal of the president and holding new presidential elections. But searching deeply into the reasons why the factions that took part in the Arab Spring – that is, before they found out they had been exploited in the revolution – are reassured by these events, one would see that the Islamist rule underscores the fears of a repeat of the Turkish model in the Arab countries ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood in the future. For this could mean the Islamists would remain in power for decades, and democratically. This is while bearing in mind that the Muslim Brotherhood's track record in office, a year after President Morsi was sworn in, came nowhere close to the Turkish model, whether in form, content, or results. Despite the difference in the conditions and the historic context that brought Erdogan to power, after the failure of his mentor Erbakan, and those that brought the Islamists in Egypt to power, the similarity between the events in Turkey and what is happening in Egypt increases hopes that Erdogan could be “removed" before June 30, in a repeat of what took place during the revolution of January 25. To be sure, there is nothing to prevent Turkey from being like Egypt, and vice versa. Yet while the Egyptian revolutionary forces may be aware of the importance of taking to the streets and addressing the concerns of the ordinary citizen, the Egyptian elite, of which many symbols ride on the bandwagon of every revolution without any major effort, is still betting primarily on those events that do not cost it anything. So if grassroots action in Egypt requires a lot of effort on the elite's part, their hope may lie in Taksim Square, even if the distance between it and Tahrir Square is large indeed!
