Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

The author expresses his opinion that the solution of the issues of Egypt’s Copts is, to a great extent, pinned to the respect of human rights, the application of democracy, and civil and individual liberties. He advocates the establishment of a political system that separates religion and politics in cultural, economical and social affairs.



Sulymān Yousuf believes that Copts’ issues have three different dimensions. The first is a political dimension. He argues that Egyptian Copts are deprived of their rights to occupy senior political positions. Christians rarely win in parliamentary elections, even those who run as candidates of the ruling National Democratic Party. The author explains that the Muslim majority rejects Copts’ involvement in political activities. He adds that as a result, Copts are worried about their future in Egypt, especially after the Brotherhood’s victories in the last parliamentary elections.



The second dimension is a religious one. The author explains that this dimension is related to the recognition of Islam as the religion of the state and the enforcement of Islamic culture and laws indirectly upon all Copts. As a result, he says there are many laws that limit Christians’ social and religious freedoms, such as their freedom to build churches.



The third dimension is a humanistic one. The author comments that some Islamic groups commit violence against Christians without any reason except their religion. "According to statistics, 4000 Copts have been killed or injured in incidents of religious violence since the incident of al-Khankā in September 1972. This is in addition to the damage to Coptic prosperity, estimated at millions of dollars....It seems that the aim behind the crackdown on Copts is to impose Islam and Arabism upon Christians, and push them to leave their homeland,” the author argues [Editor: What is the source of the author’s statistics? It unfortunately happens that sometimes people provide estimates and call them ’statistics.’ Without a source, it is difficult to know whether this is a statistic or an estimate].



The escalation of violent actions against Copts during the last few years and the Egyptian government’s lack of response toward these actions, threaten to drag the country into sectarian war between the Egyptian Copts and the Arab Muslims, suggests Yousuf.



Many international conferences were held to discuss Coptic problems in Egypt, such as the Washington conference in 2005, and Zurich conference in 2004. The author believes that these conferences are seen as the first steps toward internationalizing the Egyptian Copts’ issue.



The author points out that the first national Coptic conference was held in Assiut in 1911. Participants in this conference demanded a stronger Coptic presence in legislative council and equality between Muslim and Christian in appointments to administrative positions.