A photo circulating on social media platforms in Egypt sparked widespread controversy, after the late President Mohamed Morsi was absent from the list of paintings bearing the pictures of former Egyptian presidents on a wall at the headquarters of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
This came in a tour between Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, as part of their quest to normalize relations between the two countries, at the Tahrir Palace in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Saturday.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid posted a video – via his Twitter account – called "The visit of the Turkish Foreign Minister to Egypt," while documenting part of Shoukry and Davutoglu's inspection of various aspects of the palace.
The video clip showed a wall bearing pictures of 6 of Egypt's presidents, including "Mohamed Naguib, Abdel Nasser, Sadat, Mubarak, Adly Mansour, and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi," while the image of the first elected civilian president in the country's history (Mohamed Morsi) did not appear among them.
pic.twitter.com/idZpN3wO4P
— Egypt MFA Spokesperson (@MfaEgypt) March 18, 2023
Absence and controversy
The controversy flared up on social media platforms due to the absence of Morsi's image from the list, as activists saw it as carrying a meaningful message to Turks, after years of tension and cooling in relations between the two sides.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry did not explain the reasons for not putting the image of the late president on the list, despite the inclusion of the Egyptian presidency of Morsi in a tab bearing the name "Former Presidents", confirming his assumption of the presidency from June 30, 2012 to July 2013, <>.
The first elected civilian president.
The absence of the image of the late President #محمد_مرسي from the painting of the presidents of Egypt at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the visit of the Turkish Foreign Minister to #مصر pic.twitter.com/TZI8N77qFB
— Rassd Network (@RassdNewsN) March 19, 2023
Activists and bloggers also questioned why a picture of Sophie Abu Taleb, who held the presidency days after Sadat's assassination, was not included in the list, while interim President Adly Mansour, who was chosen to be president in July 2013, did not appear on the list.
Bloggers denounced ignoring the name and photo of Egypt's first elected civilian president, while others saw it as an important message to the Turkish delegation.
Social media users circulate a picture of the heads of #مصر without #مرسي during Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry's tour with his Turkish counterpart at the ministry's headquarters pic.twitter.com/uTdNqHxXkS
— Al Jazeera Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) March 19, 2023
Ignoring and denouncing
Blogger Anwar Wagdy said – through his account on Facebook – that ignoring Morsi from the pictures of Egyptian presidents is not temperament and fancy, and added denouncing "historically Morsi was the president of Egypt, and not to put his image childish behavior and puts you under penalty of rhetoric and resentment."
Journalist Gamal Sultan commenting on the removal of the image of the late President #محمد_مرسي - may God have mercy on him - from the painting of the presidents of Egypt#قناة_الشعوب pic.twitter.com/M6Bro8Yk5z
— Peoples' Channel (@AlshoubTv) March 19, 2023
Journalist Maged Atef said that the move to ignore the image of Morsi from the presidents "very disappointing," and continued, "Mohamed Morsi was the president of Egypt, was good or not, this is another topic, but historically he is a legitimate president and not putting his image is a despicable act."
Why was the portrait of the late President #محمد_مرسي removed from the headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs? #المسائية pic.twitter.com/vwbC0ijqvi
— Al Jazeera Live (@ajmubasher) March 19, 2023
Palestinian writer Yasser al-Zaatra wrote, "Turkey's foreign minister in front of the pictures of the presidents of Egypt, which were devoid of the image of (Morsi), may God have mercy on him. The little ones gloated and the free grieved. Who said that the history of nations is read through images and statues? In our history, there are countless greats; we do not know their forms, and in it those whose pictures and statues filled the squares, but did not change their place in books or in hearts."
The Foreign Minister of Turkey in front of the pictures of the presidents of Egypt, which were devoid of the image of (Morsi), may God have mercy on him.
The little ones gloated and the free grieved.
Who said that the history of nations is read through images and statues?
In our history, there are countless greats, whose forms we do not know, and in which their images and statues filled the squares, but did not change their place in books or in hearts. pic.twitter.com/cQi73P1GBg
— Yasser Zaatra (@YZaatreh) March 19, 2023
For his part, writer and political analyst Mohamed Hneid said, "On the contrary, young people, the picture is very eloquent: the military only displayed pictures of the putschists and were loyal to the military mind, a logic that of course excludes any democratic impact that may distort the image and the march of tyranny. They did well by removing the image of Mohamed Morsi, may God have mercy on him."
On the contrary, guys, the picture is very eloquent: the military only displayed pictures of the putschists and were loyal to the military mind, a logic that excludes, of course, any democratic impact that may distort the image and the march of tyranny. What did they do by removing the picture of #محمد_مرسي may God have mercy on pic.twitter.com/ha5jqk3HUw
— Mohamed Hneid (@MohamedHnid) March 19, 2023
It is noteworthy that Cavusoglu's visit to Cairo comes in the context of the Egyptian and Turkish sides' efforts to normalize relations between the two countries, and to start a new phase of cooperation yet, as well as moving forward towards re-exchanging ambassadors during the next stage.