Erstellt am: 3. 7. 2013 - 14:02 Uhr

Mursi versus Military

Reality Check: Egypt's political standoff and a young photographer's impressions of the Syrian conflict.

“The military in Egypt is one of the few institutions which can say that they are representing the whole nation, because the country is extremely divided. Although Egypt has a rather bad experience with the military being in power during the transitional period, there are hardly any other forces which could at least try to unite this divided society” says Cengiz Günay from the Austrian Institute for International Politics.

EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

A man paints slogans onto a female opponent of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi holding a poster of Egyptian Minister of Defence Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in a protest in Cairo.

Later on Wednesday a deadline set by the Egyptian army for President Mohammed Morsi and the opposition to resolve the political unrest will run out. There has been strong language from both sides with army commander and President Mursi each pledging to die for his cause. It’s being described in the media as a “defining moment in Egypt’s history”.

Although many people have been unhappy with the military in the past, they are once again looking to the military for a solution, says Günay. On the other hand there are many people who fear a military comeback. Günay told Reality Check it’s too difficult to predict what might happen when the deadline passes, but said he would be very surprised if the military were to stage a “real coup d’état, because I think we have passed this time. I think these things happen in a much more subtle way”.

Cengiz Günay explains how it came to the current standoff:

Tales from Syria

Stanislav Jenis

Stanislav Jenis is a freelance photographer who has recently returned from Syria. He told Riem Higazi about his experiences and impressions: