For Egyptians, the most important lessons from Turkey’s successful defeat of the attempted military coup may require too much patience to learn. Obviously, the differences between the Gulenist attempt to overthrow Erdogan and Sisi’s overthrow of Mursi are tremendous. There are very few parallels. And that is precisely the difficulty, because the most important lessons are to be found in the differences.
Egyptians will say, accurately, that what they faced was much more daunting than what Turkey faced. They will say that the whole of the Egyptian military and security apparatus was united in the coup, not a fringe minority of soldiers and officers as in Turkey. They will say that the Turks came out in support of the government because the AKP had over a decade in office to build support and instill in the Turkish people their commitment to democracy; Mursi barely had even a year. They will say that they were outnumbered and alone, and that the whole world was against them.
I do not argue about this; they are all empirically true points. Yes, I think it is true that the Turks proved to be far more strategic in their tactics, at a moment’s notice and without organized leadership on the ground than the Egyptians, but that is a secondary issue.
What we need to ponder is why the two scenarios are so hugely different. There is no short answer to this question.
Although the anti-religious character of the Turkish government until recently was so severe that it would make Egypt look like an Islamic state, why were Islamists in Turkey able to do what they have done over the past 20 years, while Islamists in Egypt were spinning their wheels?