Coptic genocide in Egypt: "Returning home means being killed." Refugee Interview
Since the beginning of 2013, several Coptic families have been in Moscow - the Egyptian Christian minority. Their temporary shelter was the Civic Assistance Human Rights Movement Office. In the room where the Copts live - a table and a few chairs. There are no beds or cots. Together with adults - babies - babies. Nobody speaks Russian, they communicate through translators. But the Copts are happy about that too. “It’s better to live like this in a foreign land than to die in the homeland,” says Samikh Mikayil, a refugee - Copt. In an interview with a REGNUM correspondent, he spoke about the current situation of the Copts in Egypt.
REGNUM: At the beginning of the Arab Spring, the Copts supported the Muslim Brotherhood. In the presidential elections, many Copts voted for Mursi. Why are the Copts leaving their country now?
The Copts did not vote for Mohammed Mursi. Moreover, during the presidential elections, the Copts were not allowed to go to the polling stations. In Port Said, Mansur, Cairo, each site was cordoned off by armed army and police units. They checked the documents, looked at the face, and if they identified the Copt, turned it back. Then it was announced to the whole world that the Copts in the presidential elections in Egypt allegedly supported the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohammed Mursi. It was a lie.
The Muslim Brotherhood got the support of the Copts thanks to the tricks. In the fall of 2011 of the year, during the parliamentary elections, the Salafis had the idea to revive the medieval practice of jizya, a poll tax on non-Muslims. The program speeches of the Salafis said: either the Copts pay jizya, or leave the country, and if they do not pay and do not leave, they are destroyed. Representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood told the Copts: if you do not support us, the Salafis will do that to you. Support us, and we guarantee you protection. ”The Copts believed in the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Salafists took only second place in the parliamentary elections. Then we learned that the intention to levy taxes on the Copts was the electoral move of the Salafis to ensure their Muslim votes. Now the Copts do not pay jizyu. They are doing something else. They are beaten in the middle of the day, they are set on fire at home, they are simply killed. Young girls are kidnapped and taken away in an unknown direction. They want to clear Egypt from Copts
REGNUM: How is the "cleansing" of Egypt from the Copts?
In the city - in one way, in the village - in another. In the Egyptian villages lives the Muslim poor - the main supporters of radical Islamists. How are Copts attacked in Egyptian villages? For example, a militant Islamist appears in the mosque and calls his co-religionists to burn the Coptic house along with its inhabitants. Under this call are going to the rest of the villagers, burning Copts right in their homes, and this crime goes unpunished. Illiterate villagers blame the Copts for all the troubles of Egypt. And why? Because the Copts were supporters of Nasser, Sadat, Mubarak. These rulers of Egypt defended the rights of the Copts as a religious minority and persecuted the Islamists. In retaliation for this, the Islamists set the illiterate rural poor on Copts.
In the Egyptian city - a different social environment. Since the time of Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Copts had a special place in Egyptian cities. And at the time of Nasser, the Copts became the intellectual and financial elite of Egypt. We were respected among the Arabs, many of us had Muslim friends. Muslims - citizens even now are not so easy to mobilize for the Coptic pogrom, because the citizen has a broader perspective. Copts in cities survive "quietly." For example, a gang makes a raid on a Coptic house, takes away everything valuable and leaves a note: "Leave, or we will kill you." At the end of February 2011, in Assiut, such a gang stabbed in the house of the priest Daoud Boutros. Even earlier, on Christmas 2011 of the year, a group of Copts was shot at Nag Hammadi, who was walking out of service. A car stopped next to them, from where an Islamist shot unarmed Christians from a machine gun. Copts are destroyed, but the police do not notice. Copts are fleeing from their homeland. Now, during the period of unrest in Cairo and Port Said, the Coptic migration has acquired the character of a mass exodus. In the border town of Rafah there used to be two districts: Christian and Muslim. Now there are no Christians in Rafah at all. All Coptic Christians were forced to leave at home along with their property and run away with their families. Coptic families want to leave the country by any means, at least legal, even illegal.
REGNUM: Are there any Copts who convert to Islam in order to save their lives?
Even the most craven Copt will not betray the faith of their ancestors. On our hands are tattoos in the form of a cross. This is a sign that our ancestors - the ancient Egyptians - were among the first to receive the Good News. This happened in the I century, shortly after the events at Calvary. Everything related to monasticism is related to Egypt. Orthodox devotees Pachomius the Great and Anthony the Great preached in Egypt. On the Egyptian Mount Sinai is one of the oldest Christian monasteries. Female monasticism was born in the Egyptian desert. The first woman - a nun, St. Mary of Egypt, is revered throughout the Christian world. I know that in Russia she is especially loved.
And the burning of our temples, the killing of our priests, the abuse of our women. Every Copt sees it. How can you then agree to the demands of the murderers and rapists, to replace their faith? Treacherous killers can not be trusted. They will force the Coptic to convert to Islam, and tomorrow they will kill him.
REGNUM: Whose positions are now stronger in Egypt - the Salafis or the Muslim Brotherhood?
Salafis are stronger. Immediately after the election of Mursi, they began to openly call for his overthrow, then they began to organize riots, to which the police turned a blind eye. They beat clubs in Egypt with supporters of the secular regime, but do not touch the Islamists. From the very beginning, Mursi did not rule the state, and could not do that. Not only because for him everything was decided by the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in London.
I will explain. Egyptian society is like a pyramid. At its top sits Mursi and his entourage, and below, at the level of villages, cities and districts, the same officials are sitting as under Mubarak. With the difference that now they pretend to serve Mursi, and in fact only think about themselves. The position of an official is this sinecure, which is difficult to get, and it is easy to lose when changing regimes. Officials adapt to the power of the top, and if not, to the mood of the masses. Egypt is ruled by masses led by Salafis. If the masses are against the Copts, then the officials and the police will not disturb them. That is why the police say to Copta: “Your house was burned down, your daughter was raped, your son was killed. But we will not go against the Islamists, because they will take revenge on us.”
REGNUM: It turns out that the "Arab Spring" in Egypt put the Copts outside the law ...
Yes. Copts have only three rights: to accept Islam, to leave or die. They press not only directly, but also through relatives. The Coptic community has always been distinguished by strong kinship. Copts have no division into second cousins or relatives, all brothers are relatives. Islamists use it. If a Copt does not want to leave his native land and the graves of his ancestors, he is given a "signal from his brother." Either they kill this brother, or a very young daughter suddenly disappears from a brother, or something else.
REGNUM: What would you, as a refugee, want to pass on to the Russian authorities?
While the Muslim Brotherhood is in power in Egypt, the return of Copts home is out of the question. To come home for us is to be killed. But we cannot break with Egypt either. This is the land of our ancestors. We still have our relatives there, about whom we worry. If we see that the power in Egypt is changing for the better, we can return to our country. But for now we see only change for the worse. Recently it was reported that Mursi fled the country because of riots. We want to stay in Russia. We are ready to do the dirtiest work. If Russia considers it necessary to deport us, we agree. But with one request: do not send us to Egypt.
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