MANAMA-BAHREIN

The Greek representative of our Institute, Mr.Nikolaidis was received by the head of the national museum of the Kingdom of Bahrein, Mr Rashad Faraj, in order to find ways of mutual cooperation.

TURKEY

It was on the 30th of August, that H.R.H. the Prince Muhammad Ali - Prince of the Sa'id, son of His Majesty the King Fouad, cousin of HRH the Prince Osman Rifat Ibrahim (Honorary President of this institution), married with Princess Noal Zaher, the granddaughter of King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan.

 

H.R.H. Prince Osman Rifat Ibrahim was  invited to the wedding which took place in Turkey and the gala dinner held at Ciragan Palace, a former palace of the Sultans of Turkey, and is situated on the European shores of the Bosphorus, not far from the Dolmabahçe Palace.

PORTUGAL - ESTORIL

On 27th July at Estoril, held the signing of the cooperation protocol between the Royal Institute Mohamed Ali and the Academy of Arts and Letters.

 

The ceremony was presided by HRH the Prince Osman Rifat Ibrahim, Honorary President of the Royal Institute Mohamed Ali, and was attended by the highest and significant personalities of the Academy of Arts and Letters.

 

The session opened with the words of Professor António de Sousa Lara, who emphasized the importance of strengthening relations between the two institutions, as well as the desire to ensure sustainability in the bonds of cultural relationship.

 

The ceremony ended with the signing of the protocol between the two institutions.

ESPAÑA - ENTREVISTA EL MUNDO

El príncipe propone el modelo español para restaurar la monarquia.

"Gobernar Egipto no es tarea fácil", reconoció el rey Faruk poco antes de empacar algunas pertenencias y emprender el camino del exilio. Corría el año 1952. El ruido de sables desembocó el 23 de julio de aquel año en un golpe que derrocó la monarquía y entregó Egipto a los generales. "Desde entonces los militares han mantenido su dictadura", advierte el príncipe Osman Rifat Ibrahim, uno de los miembros más destacados de la familia real egipcia, en una entrevista a ELMUNDO.es.

 

"Desgraciadamente hace dos años y medio, cuando la revolución estalló, había grandes esperanzas entre la población. Las cosas cambiaron pero no fue un cambio total porque, en realidad, fue el ejército el que desalojó a Mubarak; el que organizó las elecciones y acabó con Mursi", cuenta Osman desde Madrid, donde trabaja desde hace más de una década como consultor financiero.

 

Desde la meseta, el príncipe de 63 años -que abandonó Egipto con tan solo dos años- observa con pesadumbre el destino de un país descosido por la polarización social y los enfrentamientos violentos. "Es el ejército el que hace la política egipcia y después de las dos revoluciones recientes, o como quieran llamarlas, los militares siguen siendo el árbitro. No veo que de esto pueda surgir una democracia", esboza.

 

La estirpe de Mohamed Ali, el padre del Egipto moderno, no perdona al Movimiento de los Oficiales Libres que les desbancó del poder; les despojó de nacionalidad; les desterró e incautó sus propiedades. "Cuando en unos meses haya nuevas elecciones, el Gobierno no será realmente libre porque esto es una dictadura militar en la que, según el momento histórico, se coloca a unos actores delante pero los generales continúan detrás", denuncia Osman.

  

Y los nuevos protagonistas de la impostura son los liberales y opositores no islamistas que respaldaron el golpe de Estado y a la figura ascendente de Abdelfatah al Sisi, el comandante en jefe de las fuerzas armadas. "Se equivocan cuando creen que el ejército se retirará del poder, porque son ellos los que tienen el mando", opina el príncipe. "La única solución es que los demócratas luchen pero siendo conscientes de que el ejército mantiene al país en una especie de semi dictadura".

 

El modelo de Juan Carlos I

 

Para contrarrestar el ardor guerrero, Osman asegura que la tierra de los faraones necesita una figura de consenso capaz de enmendar la plana a los héroes de uniforme. El príncipe propone el "modelo español", la restauración monárquica de Juan Carlos I que rescató al país de la pesadilla de la dictadura franquista y alejó el fantasma de la guerra civil. "Es evidente que lo que sucedió en España es diferente, pero podría aplicarse en Egipto si se dan ciertas circunstancias. El rey es una figura neutral, al margen de los partidos políticos, y da consejos que los líderes políticos no querrían recibir".

 

Podría ser la segunda oportunidad para Fuad II, el hijo de Faruk que subió al trono con seis meses de vida en 1952 para a los pocos meses enfilar la misma ruta de su padre y sus cortesanos. A sus 61 años, Fuad vive en Suiza al amparo de la familia real saudí. Habla mejor francés que árabe; trabaja para vivir y se divorció hace unos años. Tiene tres hijos. "Él podría ser el elegido para restaurar la monarquía o alguno de los miembros de la familia real que han vivido durante estas décadas en Egipto", indica Osman.

 

Sostiene el príncipe que, si su antepasado Mohamed Ali estuviera vivo, trataría de arañar poder al ejército hasta ganarle el pulso. "Intentaría reducir el poder del ejército como hizo con los mamelucos y buscaría el apoyo popular y el de liberales y demócratas", explica quien aún guarda memoria de aquel Egipto exótico y distinguido gracias a los relatos que le contaron su padre y su círculo de aristócratas desde el destierro y a las imágenes de decadencia que observó en sus viajes a El Cairo.

  

A Osman, que ha renunciado a luchar por el patrimonio familiar que fue confiscado por la junta militar, le preocupan las seis décadas de propaganda contra un rey que fue a menudo acusado de servir a las potencias coloniales. "Lograron que se olvidaran algunos de los logros de la monarquía, pero me consta que hay muchos jóvenes que sienten nostalgia y han modificado su opinión sobre la familia real. He visto cientos de blogs que apoyan la monarquía".

EGYPT - THE RETURN OF THE KING

In Egyptian author Alaa Al Aswany's bestselling 2002 novel The Yacoubian Building, an aging aristocrat declares: "It was a different age. Cairo was like Europe. It was clean and smart and the people were well mannered and respectable and everyone knew his place exactly…"

 

Fewer and fewer people remember Egypt as it once was, a glittering romantic metropolis and a genuine regional hub for culture and the arts - it is an Egypt that now only lives in the collective memory of some exiles, the result of dictatorships both republican and Islamic.

 

Prince Osman Rifaat Ibrahim was barely two years old when his family was forced to leave his native Egypt, after the 1952 Free Officers' revolution. As members of the dynasty of Mohamed Ali, founder of modern Egypt, they had become persona non grata. His father, Prince Amr Ibrahim, was blacklisted as a potential threat to the new order. He had been a high commander of the Special Police during World War II, and enjoyed a great deal of support among certain circles. As a grandson of Mohamed Ali's eldest son, he was viewed as a contender for the throne.

 

Overnight, their family lost everything, as the state confiscated extensive properties and all of their personal belongings, including priceless antiques and artworks, by order of the Revolutionary Command Council. There were three palatial homes in Cairo, three buildings in coastal Alexandria, and vast swaths of agricultural land on which they grew cotton, then a highly profitable crop. With nothing left in Egypt, they went into exile, first to Italy and later to Switzerland, where Prince Osman grew up among other Egyptian aristocrats.

 

Today, like the rest of the world, the 63-year-old prince watches from afar as chaos unfolds in Egypt, wondering whether there will ever be a happy ending to the story that began six decades ago.

 

"When this latest revolution started a little over two years ago, I was hopeful that it might be the end of nearly 60 years of military dictatorship," he told Al Jazeera. "Unfortunately it was not, and where we are headed is gloomy."

On the coup d'état that ousted President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, he reflects: "Egypt is happy, but I wonder what for? No more Morsi, even though he was elected by a majority. And now the army that brought him to power will find another Morsi or Torsi. Nobody seems to understand that the army removed Hosni Mubarak, and now they've removed Morsi. Tomorrow they will remove someone else."

 

Comparing the army cadre to the Mamluks, a ruling class of soldiers who governed Egypt from 1210-1517, and continued to hold sway as landowners until 1811, he added: "Egypt is ruined and whatever regime comes in, nepotism and corruption will prevail. The people have been cheated and, as usual, they will be cheated again."

 

“Egypt is ruined and whatever regime comes in, nepotism and corruption will prevail. The people have been cheated and, as usual, they will be cheated again” (Prince Osman Ibrahim)

 

Paradise lost

 

Since 2001, Prince Osman has resided in Madrid, working as a consultant for financial firms dealing with Turkey, Russia and Central Asia. Over the years, he has attempted to take legal steps to reclaim the property that had once belonged to his family, but he has faced hurdles every step of the way.

 

"[Saudi Arabia's] King Khaled and King Fahd had intervened on our behalf on numerous occasions, asking the Egyptians that some of the property ought to be returned to the families. They promised but never did anything about it," he recounted. "Whatever government comes next, thieves do not give back what they steal.

 

"My mother's house was turned into a police station, and later some Arab League office," he said, mournfully. His mother was Ottoman Princess Nedjla Hibetullah, granddaughter of both the last Caliph Abdül Medjid II (1922-1924) and the last Sultan Mehmet VI (1918-1922)

 

Today, the magnificent neo-Islamic palace that once belonged to Prince Osman's father in Cairo's district of Gezirah has become a museum for ceramic tiles. Known as the Prince Amr Ibrahim Palace, it was built in 1921 by the last of the Balians, the illustrious family of Armenian architects in the Ottoman court. By some estimates, the property may be worth more than 200 million euros ($257m).

 

The Spanish model

 

In 1985, a few years after President Sadat reinstated their passports, Prince Osman travelled to Egypt for the first time since his forcible exile.

 

"The atmosphere had been described to me so well that it felt like I had never left," he recalled. "But certainly the country had changed. The city was falling apart. And you could see the onset of what has happened in most Middle Eastern cities today… The unruly constructions, which destroy everything of what used to be a very nice city."

 

Asked what he thought would be the solution to Egypt's malaise, Prince Osman cited the example of Spain, which successfully reinstated its monarchy following a devastating civil war and an era of fascist dictatorial rule. It now enjoys a viable democratic system.

 

"The dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco chose the actual king Juan Carlos de Borbon as his successor, to reestablish democracy in the country and it worked. If this were done in Egypt - it might make people smile, but I believe that, especially the youth, with whom I have talked a lot, would receive it well," he said.

 

While he conceded that the final days of King Farouk's reign may have damaged the reputation of the Egyptian monarchy, he claimed that many of the shocking reports that contributed to destroying the deposed monarch were vastly exaggerated by British and US agents.

 

"The Spanish model is certainly an option, because it worked. A neutral person above all parties concerned is a real factor of stability. Restoring the monarchy would certainly do that. A king is above parties, he unites the nation. The reputation of the royal family is not tarnished in Egypt, suffice it to see the hundreds of blogs on the net. Quite the contrary, the lies said against it for all these years are now fully perceived," said Prince Osman, himself co-author of Mehemet Ali Le Grand ["The Great Mohamed Ali"], published in France and Egypt in 2005.

 

“A neutral person above all parties concerned is a real factor of stability. Restoring the monarchy would certainly do that. A king is above parties, he unites the nation” (Prince Osman Ibrahim)

 

An implausible dream?

 

John Bell, a former Canadian diplomat in Egypt, dismisses this option as "not plausible".

 

"Monarchy… has no real and deep roots in Egypt - the pharaoh complex is another matter altogether, and in this context of desire for freedoms and end to any authoritarianism, Mubarak or Muslim Brothers, these ideas are fanciful," he told Al Jazeera.

 

Ironically, in the view of many Egyptians today, that role of impartial overseer proposed by Prince Osman is already taken. They suggest that the army fulfills the function of impartial overseer of Egyptian politics - notwithstanding the controversy over the July 3 coup.

"I don't think the monarchy is associated with neutrality in Egyptian political culture today," said Pascale Ghazaleh, an Egyptian historian. "The army was able to take that role after 1952, presenting itself as the corporate institution most capable of representing society as a whole, against the particular interests and corruption of the monarchy and the Wafd, and that legacy still seems strong today."

 

In 2005, Ghazaleh's mother, Fayza Hassan, penned her memoirs, A Flight of Kites: Growing Out of the Nasser Years, chronicling life for Egypt's elites after the 1952 revolution.

 

"My family were certainly no supporters of [Gamal Abdel] Nasser, although my parents stayed on until 1967, though the nationaliations cost my father his job," recalled Ghazaleh, an associate professor of history at the American University in Cairo. "I recall my mother saying that they would meet their friends at the Gezirah Club and run their hands under the table to make sure that there were no microphones planted there. She also told me that intelligence personnel would come on the line while she was speaking on the telephone and shout 'stop speaking French!'

 

"Was this class paranoia, or my mother's love of a good dramatic story? There was probably some truth to it, even if reality was not quite as vivid as she depicted it. But the 1967 war was what made up my father's mind: the extent of the government's lies, and the magnitude of the defeat, proved unbearable."

 

'More pain and hardship'

 

Whether or not the proposal to reinstate the monarchy catches on, for the time being, Prince Osman is channelling his efforts into education projects. He serves as president of the Lisbon-based Royal Institute of Mohamed Ali, which facilitates scholarships at universities in Europe in specialisations relevant to Egypt and other countries affiliated with the institution.

 

The Royal Institute also sponsors exhibitions and publications on the legacy of Mohammed Ali (1805-1848), and that of this dynasty, with special emphasis on literature, art, and religious tolerance.

 

And what does he expect will come of all these revolutions and counter-revolutions rocking his native country?

 

"I see more pain and hardship, I am not optimistic at all. Nevertheless, one has to put his trust in the youth of Egypt. They are the ones who can influence its future," he said.

 

"I believe that when one starts an uprising or a revolution, one must go to the end. The people trusted the army, and they were wrong."

MUSEUM VISITS TO KSA, UAE & OMAN

Museums in particular, function as cultural Time Capsules of History, Technology and Art. In this context, part of the activities of the Royal Institute Mohamed Ali, is to establish cultural relations with Museums around the world, initially by establishing a link with these Museums in our website and our youtube channel, followed by a more formal Protocol & Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with these Museums & Institutes.

Part of these activities include the assignment of HRH the Prince Osman Rifat Ibrahim to the Delegation of Greece, under Mr. George D. Nikolaidis, to visit four Museums, namely, The King Abdullah University of Science & Technology at the Museum of Science & Technology of Islam in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabic, The Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization, in the United Arab Emirates and The Frankincense Museum in Salalah & The Bait Al Baranda Museum in Muscat, both in the Sultanate of Oman.

  

In all of the above Museums, the Greek Delegation was cordially received along with a guided tour and meetings held with the Management of the above Museums.   

ATHENS - MEETING WITH DR. ARMANDA-ALICE MARAVELIA (President of Hellenic Institute of Egyptology) AND MR. GEORGHIOS NIKOLAIDIS

Hellenic Institute of Egyptology are modern Research Organization of high standards, functioning as a Civil Non–Profit Company, supported by a plethora of eminent personalities in the domains of Egyptology, Archæology, Science and Letters, with Collaborators and Founding Members from Hellas, Egypt, Germany, France, Russia and the USA. The scope of our Institute is the fund–raising in order to: Perform Research Projects in the disciplines of Egyptology, Archæology, Archæoastronomy, Archæoanthropology, as well as the interdisciplinary and comparative study of the ancient high civilizations in the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization and dissemination of Egyptology to the general public and to Schools, Gymnasiums/Lyceums, & c.