Sisi and Erdogan Are Partners With the Coronavirus Pandemic – Council on Foreign Relations
The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions manual for global and national health emergencies makes one thing clear: A critical component of fighting a pandemic such as COVID-19 is clear, consistent, science-based information that is communicated through a trusted and respected source. When people are worried about their health, they want information from the person in a white lab coat.
More From Our Experts
Given the gravity of current circumstances there is no risk of sounding melodramatic, so I would add a second requirement for effectively combating the coronavirushumanity.You know basic humanity when you see it: Its the sense of community and social trust engendered by natural empathy.
More on:
Egypt
Turkey
Middle East and North Africa
Coronavirus
There is a short supply around the world of both competent expertise and genuine sense of the common good. The United States is certainly not exempt from the shortage. But the problem is acute across the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey. The entire region is experiencing a wave of coronavirus cases, but the official numbers from government health ministries do not offer a clear picture of the problem, either because they do not know or because they are lying about the extent of infections. Among the hardest-hit countries is Qatar, with one of the worlds worst outbreaks per capita. At least the Qataris have money to throw at the problem. Not so Egypt or Algeria or Tunisia. There is precious little data on testing, but one can safely assume that whatever has been done pales in comparison to what is necessary.
Much of this stems from incompetence, complacency, and lack of basic decency among the regions leaders, which has led to a deadly breakdown of social trust. I am not suggesting that Iraqis, Egyptians, Palestinians, Turks, Saudis, and others lack the capacity to empathize with their fellow citizens. Rather, the disdain their leaders have for the societies they oversee has robbed them of social cohesion, necessarily rendering it harder to survive and recover at a time of crisis.This is a recipe for the kind of disaster in the Middle East that boggles the mind.
Before moving on, let me stipulate for any critics in the Middle East my belief that U.S. President Donald Trumps administrations response to the coronavirus pandemic has been nothing less than appalling and profoundly irresponsible.Both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have proved themselves to be the least credible voices on the crisis, both failing to reassure anyone that the U.S. government under their leadership could manage the situation and, in the process, putting people in harms way. History will render judgment on their contribution to the collapse of trust in the United States institutions of government, the press, and science, and its impact on the many Americans who might have remained healthy but were instead infected and died.
More From Our Experts
That stipulated, lets turn back to the Middle East. Who among the current crop of leaders of major Middle Eastern countries can people turn to for clear, dispassionate, fact-based information? Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi? Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan? Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman?These are strongmen who command significant amounts of resources, but they are hardly the strong leaders that people need now. There is no evidence that they are more prepared to offer their citizens any more than the obfuscation and misdirection that the White House has for Americans, though with likely direr consequences. Perhaps Middle Eastern leaders will rise to the occasion. One can only hope, but the track record suggests disaster compounded by arrogance, incompetence, and brutality.
Egypt is the most worrisome in the coronavirus crisis.The country is huge, its population having recently surpassed 100 million, with nearly one-quarter of those people in greater Cairo. How do Egyptians practice social distancing in such a megalopolis, especially in its poorer districts?Egypts public health infrastructure is fragile at best, and the private sector is not well-positioned to fill in the gaps by issuing guidelines or helping to organize testing, as it has done in the United States. On top of these challenges is the very fact that the Egyptian leaderships first inclination is to lie. They are most certainly lying about the rate of coronavirus infectionas of Monday, Sisis government would have people believe that Egypt has 166 cases of COVID-19 and four deaths. Modelers at the University of Toronto indicate that it could be closer to 20,000, and Sisi and his advisers no doubt understand that figure to be far more plausible.
More on:
Egypt
Turkey
Middle East and North Africa
Coronavirus
The Egyptian leadership has nevertheless stuck with the message of an ostensibly small number of infections, downplaying the extent of the crisis for fear of harming the tourism industry. After years of decline following the uprising that overthrew then President Hosni Mubarak, the 2015 bombing of a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula, and the disappearance of an EgyptAir flight over the Mediterranean in 2016, last year was a banner year for visitors to Egypt.The authorities in Cairo want to maintain the momentum and keep the dollars flowing, sojust like the U.S. presidentthey have been emphasizing that COVID-19 is just like a cold that most people get over relatively quickly. Of course, this conveniently overlooks the fact that the crew and foreign passengers on a now-infamous Nile riverboat, the MSASara,have all been quarantined and that infections in a number of countries, including the United States, Canada, Greece, and France,can be traced back to tourist travel in Egypt.
Even the Egyptians could not willfully ignore reality forever, so they instituted some half-measures, including permitting the suspension of Friday prayer at mosques, curtailing organized tours in Luxor, cutting back on cultural events, and closing universities. In an implicit recognition that the country is sitting on top of a COVID-19 bomb, Sisi has directed $6 billiona significant sum for Egyptto respond to the outbreak.They are so far behind, however, that even if the authorities ramp up testing, any hope of containment is long gone. When the wave of infections hits Egypt, as it inevitably will, Sisi is unlikely to be the kind of figure that can calm an anxious nation and stem the resulting instability that will threaten the region and Europe. He is no longer the savior of July 3, 2013, who rescued the country from the abyss, who elicits the loyalty of the citizenry. Instead, he is already widely seen by many of his own people as brutal, unwise, and dishonest.
Although Egypt is most worrisome, Turkey is only better off because it has a functioning health care system and good public health infrastructure.This is a credit to the ruling Justice and Development Party. But Erdogans government has been lying to the Turks and has only recently taken half-measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Why, one might ask, given the situation in the EU, did the government go forward with mass gatherings such as Friday prayers last week? The message from imams was reportedly focused on the importance of social distancing, but the damage was done. Turkeys infection rate will undoubtedly spike; nevertheless, in the absence of widespread testing, Turkish business leaders are still encouraging people to visit malls and shop.Through the early phases of the pandemic, Erdogan, who has otherwise involved himself in every facet of public life both large and small, remained silent. This is a man more worried about taking the blame for the illnesses and deaths to come than the health and safety of his people.When the need for drastic public health measures becomes impossible to ignore, there is no telling how the public will react.
If the scene in Cairo a few weeks ago, in which hundreds tried to storm the Central Public Health Laboratories to obtain a coronavirus test, is any indication of what might come, countries in the region are in serious trouble. Marked by political and social systems that are rigged so that all the benefits flow to the wealthy and connectednot unlike the United States, but more pronounced and brutaltesting, health care, and basic needs will be distributed unevenly, and will further erode trust and radicalize societies in a variety of ways. Does anyone believe that Saudi elites will wait in line for coronavirus tests? No. The wealthy will hoard what they can before fleeing, leaving the rest to fend for themselves and face the tear gas and water cannons of the riot police. What about the armies of Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani, and Filipino guest workers throughout the Persian Gulf? They will be a black hole of coronavirus infections. They have little, if any, protections in the societies that cannot run without them, but they have power in numbers. The many dimensions of this virus and how it can upend already fragile societies are truly frightening.
Sisi and Erdogan are not unique, just illustrative of the added layer of complications that people in the Middle East face as they confront the coronavirus pandemic.The utter disdain the leaders harbor for their people and the related brutality with which many Middle Easterners have been treated has underminedindividually and collectivelythe basic humanity, in the form of basic community, necessary for people to cope and survive. What kind of governments beat people who are desperate for a test that will be the difference between the ability to feed their families and not? What kind of system destroys much of its scientific community on the basis of guilt by association, conspiracy theories, and the political needs of a dear leader? Who would dare speak out publicly and offer another way in a place where a capricious ruler has deemed only his ideas about society are good? There are no societal backstops in these places, leaving people on their own to grapple with fear, stress, resignation, illness, and possible death.
If we have learned anything from this global health crisis, it is that there are no borders, no nationalisms, no differences to the way coronavirus ravages the human respiratory system.There are only differences in the quality of leadership, and the resulting senses of humanity in the nations they oversee.The Middle Eastlike the United Statesis failing on both fronts.
See the rest here:
Sisi and Erdogan Are Partners With the Coronavirus Pandemic - Council on Foreign Relations
- Turkey detains hundreds of Erdogan opponents in pursuit of 'octopus' of corruption - Reuters - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- President Erdogan will 'deliver a historic speech' on July 12: Spokesperson - Trkiye Today - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Turkish President Erdogan Cracks Down on the Opposition Party - The National Interest - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Turkey Blocks Grok AI on X for Alleged Insults to Erdogan, Atatrk, and Religious Values - Greek City Times - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Turkey Blocks Grok Content For Alleged Humiliation Of Erdogan And Religious Values - VOI.ID - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Trkiye bans Elon Musks AI chatbot Grok over insults to Erdogan, Ataturk - Trkiye Today - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- As Erdogan cracks down on opposition, is Turkey headed to early election? - Firstpost - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Erdogan Says Yerevan is More Flexible on So-Called Zangezur Corridor - Asbarez - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- 3 mayors arrested in southern Turkey as part of crackdown on opposition to Erdogan - The Times of Israel - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Erdogan expects F-35 deliveries during Trump presidency, rejects Greek concerns - Defence Industry Europe - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Erdogan meets with pro-Kurdish party delegation in 'historic' peace talks - Trkiye Today - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Turkeys pro-Kurdish party will meet with President Erdogan By Reuters - Investing.com - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Erdogan says asked Trump to intervene over shootings at Gaza aid centers - The Times of Israel - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Erdogan confident Turkey to be readmitted to F-35 programme - The New Arab - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Turkish Police Detain Three More Mayors From Party Opposed to Erdogan - WSJ - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Erdogan confident Turkey will receive F-35 jets under deal with Trump - eKathimerini.com - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Erdogan: Peace with Kurds to gain momentum as PKK starts laying down arms - kurdistan24.net - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Erdogan says PKK arms decision will accelerate peace process - Trkiye Today - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- PKK disarmament to boost peace with Kurds: Erdogan - New Age BD - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Erdogan and Sharif discuss trade expansion and Gaza crisis at Azerbaijan summit - Trkiye Today - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Armenias vision of unblocking anchored on sovereignty and national jurisdiction: Foreign Ministry responds to Erdogan - Armenpress - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Erdogan: I truly believe Khankendi will become a center of peace - Latest news from Azerbaijan - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- As Trump Pushes Syria Toward Israel, Erdogan Asks What's in It for Him - Haaretz - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Erdogan vows action against magazine over alleged religious insult - rudaw.net - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Erdogan pushes for F-35 deal with US in bid to strengthen Turkey's Air Force, expert says - The Jerusalem Post - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Turkey agrees to increase water flow to Iraq after meeting between Al-Mashhadani and Erdogan - Iraqi News - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- President Erdogan to visit Azerbaijan for Economic Cooperation Organization Summit - Trkiye Today - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- U.S. envoy expects Trump, Erdogan to resolve arms sanctions on Turkey this year -Anadolu - Reuters - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Erdogan reiterates gratitude to Azerbaijan for earthquake relief support - Latest news from Azerbaijan - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Erdogan hails 2024 as record year for exports, pledges continued growth in 2025 - TRT Global - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- US envoy expects Trump, Erdogan to resolve arms sanctions on Turkiye this year - Arab News - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- EUs aid to Turkey diverted to spying operations in Europe by Erdogan govt - Nordic Monitor - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Trump, Erdogan hold first meeting at NATO as ties warm: What to know - AL-Monitor - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- President Erdogan condemns terrorist attack in Pakistan near Afghan border - Trkiye Today - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Erdogan Claims Progress in Bid to Secure F-35 Fighter Jet From United States - Foundation for Defense of Democracies - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Turkey hopes for progress on F-35 jets after Trump meeting, Erdogan says - The Times of Israel - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Erdogan says Trump would join Ukraine peace talks in Turkey if Putin attends - Reuters - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- World Juniors Qualifier Talya Erdogan is Headed to George Washington University for 2025 - SwimSwam - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Turkeys Erdogan says positive developments on Eurofighter jets - eKathimerini.com - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Erdogan with Trump after five years: why can they get along better now? - Yetkin Report - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Trkiye in talks with the US to rejoin F-35 programme, says Erdogan - TRT Global - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Erdogan says Turkey hopes for progress on F-35s after Trump meeting - Investing.com - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Erdogan said that the Russian S-400 air defense systems are not enough to protect Turkey - EADaily - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Erdogan says wont let terror drag Syria back to instability - arabnews.jp - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Erdogan to attend June 2425 NATO summit in The Hague as allies mull defense spending hike - Trkiye Today - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Erdogan says Israel-Iran war near point of no return, vows to boost missile production - The Times of Israel - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Armenian prime minister discusses reconciliation with Erdogan in landmark Turkey visit - AP News - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Armenian prime minister to meet Erdogan in rare visit to Turkey aimed at mending ties - ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Erdogan vows to boost Turkeys missile production as Israel-Iran war escalates - AP News - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Erdogan tells Iranian FM talks are only way to settle nuclear dispute - The Times of Israel - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Erdogan says he's 'optimistic victory will be Iran's' in blistering speech as strikes continue - MSN - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Turkish President Erdogan warns against 'new Sykes-Picot order' in the Middle East - Yahoo - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Erdogan: Iran-Israel conflict reaching point of no return - The Times of Israel - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Pashinyan-Erdogan meeting may be a game-changer in Armenia-Turkish relations - Commonspace.eu - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Erdogan: Israeli strikes on Iran aimed at derailing nuclear talks with US - The Times of Israel - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- UNRWA to open office in Trkiye: Erdogan - TRT Global - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Erdogan, Trump tried to broker secret US-Iran talks in Istanbul: Report - Trkiye Today - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Netanyahu government is the 'greatest obstacle' in regional peace: Erdogan - TRT Global - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the 51st Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in... - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Turkeys Erdogan says Israel attacks aimed to sabotage Iran nuclear talks By Reuters - Investing.com - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- President Sheikh Mohamed and Turkey's Erdogan call for dialogue as conflict rages between Israel and Iran - thenationalnews.com - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Erdogan, Aliyev Rejoice Over Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh - Asbarez - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Erdogan Attempts to Rally the Muslim World Against Israel - Foundation for Defense of Democracies - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Erdogan says Iran has 'legitimate right to defend itself against Israel's thuggery,' compares Netanyahu to Hitler - The Times of Israel - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Putin, Erdogan condemn Israeli actions against Iran - The Times of Israel - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Erdogan says Iran has 'legitimate and legal right' to self-defence against Israel - Middle East Eye - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Saar slams oppressive and imperialist Erdogan for defending Iran, comparing PM to Hitler - The Times of Israel - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Trkiye will never forget Azerbaijani people's solidarity after earthquakes: Erdogan - TRT Global - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Erdogan slams Israels banditry after Iran strikes - The Times of Israel - June 14th, 2025 [June 14th, 2025]
- Israeli disinformation campaign on President Erdogan's daughter refuted by Trkiye - Trkiye Today - June 14th, 2025 [June 14th, 2025]
- Erdogan steers Turkey toward end of secularism with new constitution draft - The Arab Weekly - June 14th, 2025 [June 14th, 2025]
- Turkey to export 48 fighter jets to Indonesia: Erdogan - The Economic Times - June 14th, 2025 [June 14th, 2025]
- Erdogan: The international community must say stop to Israeli banditry - NEWS.am - June 14th, 2025 [June 14th, 2025]
- Plans afoot for an Erdogan trip to the White House - eKathimerini.com - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Erdogan proposes Putin-Zelensky meeting in Turkey, with Trump's participation - Gazeta Express - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- Turkish President Erdogan greets the nation on Eid al Adha - TRT Global - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- Turkey becoming one of main centers of peace diplomacy - Erdogan - Ukrinform - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- Appeasing Erdogan, losing the Med - eKathimerini.com - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pushing for Turkish women to have more babies - IslanderNews.com - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- Turkey's Erdogan appoints legal team to draft new constitution, sparking fears of extended rule - AP News - May 28th, 2025 [May 28th, 2025]