Egypt’s long-persecuted Coptic Christians are getting out of dodge—out of Egypt in spite of the removal of the Obama Administration’s pals, the Muslim Brotherhood, from the seat of power.
They are being welcomed in Christian Georgia.
From the Global Post (thanks to a reader for sending it):
TBILISI, Georgia — Ever since ouster of Egyptian strongman President Hosni Mubarak two years ago, Adel has faced a difficult dilemma: Leave behind a relatively cushy life in Egypt or stay and risk discrimination and violence as religious and sectarian tensions rise.
[….]
“In Egypt, it’s difficult to get visas to the U.S. or Europe,” 50-year-old Adel says. “We didn’t chose Georgia, Georgia is choosing us.”
He’s not alone. Christian minorities from both Egypt and Syria are starting to look to the South Caucasus countries of Georgia and Armenia as a refuge from violence and uncertainly.
The choice isn’t as random as it may seem. Sandwiched between Turkey, Iran and Russia’s predominately Muslim North Caucasus regions, both Georgia and Armenia have ancient Christian traditions dating back to the 4th century. Their churches are closely related to the Copts and other Eastern Christian confessions.
Muslim Brotherhood is the reason they are moving out. Even out of power, the MB is dangerous!
Adel, who asked that his last name not be used for fear of reprisals against his family, said that although Christians faced discrimination under Mubarak’s long rule, the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power in 2012 has increased pressure on religious minorities and led many of Egypt’s estimated 5 million to 15 million Copts to look for the exits.
[….]
Although he supports the Egyptian military’s ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood government earlier this month, he says he fears the Islamist organization will be “just as dangerous out of power.”
Read it all. The photo and caption are from this Global Post story as well.
Oh, yuk, see this from The Economist only yesterday where the EU is pressuring Georgia to have “European values.”