Egyptian public diplomats in Moscow

By Vestnik Kavkaza

As part of a mission of public diplomacy an Egyptian public delegation visited Moscow. The representatives of various circles of Egyptian society, social, religious, academic and business organizations arrived in the capital to acquaint the Russian public with the real situation in Egypt, which is going through difficult times. Public diplomats asked the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Russia to cancel the ban on visiting Egypt.

“In Egypt there have been two revolutions in less than three years,” Kamil Zahran, political scientist, says. “The first revolution of January 25 has not led to the desired results, the announced results, or those that were announced in the beginning, and, conversely, led to the opposite result. This was reflected in the policy of certain aspects of the position of the "Muslim Brotherhood", which entered into an agreement with the intelligence services of the U.S. and the UK. The West, when power was handed to the Revolutionary Council, the military command, did not say anything, because this suited its interests. I have to say that the "Muslim Brotherhood" implemented a criminal policy. Within a year and a half they robbed the people. They stole from the people. Can this be called democracy advocated by our people? And secondly, the people of Egypt called for the establishment of a genuine democratic regime and against conspiracies, in order to do away with the remnants of the former regime. Indeed, our nation stands for national independence. We have come now to revive Soviet-Egyptian, and now Russian- Egyptian relations, based on mutual respect and recognition of the rights of the Egyptian people to freedom and democracy.”

“We now wish to restore our historic relationship,” Samih Ashour, chairman of the Egyptian Lawyers Trade Union Association, says. “We have had a relationship of friendship, it existed for 70 years, and we cannot just break this friendship. We know where we are going, and we know where our revolution is going.” 

Criticizing the results of the first revolution, Ashour stated: “We have seen before how force was used under the guise of democracy. In London, it was against those who did not obey the law, as well as in Southern Africa. And I saw Yeltsin commanding the shelling of the White House and protecting democracy. But everyone, including the United States and Western Europe, they said that it was the expression of the will of the Russian people.” Speaking about the second revolution he noted: “ Now the Egyptian armed forces had the right to put down a rebellion. How can you call what happened a coup, when millions went out on streets? We want democracy for everyone. We do not want a religious state. We do not want any emirates. We want to remain a single solid state.”