Western responses to Egyptian coup contradict democratic values

Turkey’s Zaman newspaper has accused Western responses to the coup in Egypt of “contradicting democratic values”. Instead of taking a decisive stand against the overthrow of an elected president, said the editorial, the West, especially the United States, has gone against all of the democratic values they promote to the rest of the world.

Not only was the coup not condemned, said Zaman, but some countries also praised the army in Egypt for “responding” to the demands of anti-government demonstrators by bringing down the first democratically-elected president in its history. The US couldn’t even bring itself to describe what took place in Cairo as a coup, even though Washington has long regarded itself as a “beacon of democracy”.

In contrast, the editorial pointed out, a few European countries did describe the military takeover as a “coup”, although the European Union insisted that the Egyptian armed forces acted in response to the accumulation of significant tension and polarisation in the country. In the EU’s eyes, that “legitimises” the army’s move.