YEREVAN. – Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s call against the military coup in Egypt was in defense of the Muslim Brothers, since the presence of radical Islamists in the Egyptian government strengthens official Ankara’s influence on official Cairo.     

Turkologist Artak Shakaryan told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am. 

In the analyst’s words, Erdogan was very popular during the revolution at Tahrir Square in Downtown Cairo.

As per the turkologist, military coups have left a great trace on Turkey’s modern history. In recent years, however, Erdogan is making efforts to weaken the position of the Turkish army, to avoid a military coup in the country.    

“All of Turkey’s military coups were carried out against the Islamists, and therefore the military coup in Egypt has left a deep psychological trace on Turkey’s leadership, since the army overthrew the Islamists,” Shakaryan said.   

He also noted that Erdogan is being insincere because a strong and stable Egypt is inconvenient for official Ankara, since Egypt, together with Iran, has always been leverage against Turkey in the Middle East.