Global Post: ISTANBUL, Turkey — The toppling of an elected Muslim Brotherhood president in Egypt, and a subsequent crackdown on its leaders and ranks by the armed forces, is sending a shiver through political Islamists across the region.

From Turkey to Tunisia to Syria, Islamist movements either in power or operating as the political opposition are denouncing the military takeover, which took place Wednesday in Egypt, as a coup.

But after millions took to the streets to unseat now former Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, prompting the army’s seizure of power, the Islamists are also worried about potential backlash once they end up in government.

Morsi’s unpopular policies and autocratic ruling style, which appeared to empower Islamist allies at the expense of inclusive governance, galvanized opposition to his presidency in just one short year. He was inaugurated on June 30, 2012, and deposed two days ago on July 3.

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He had granted himself sweeping powers, his office filed charges against activists for “insulting the presidency”, and he rushed through a referendum on a controversial constitution.

Tunisian and Syrian activists inspired by Egypt’s second uprising have already started a petition campaign to gather enough signatures to remove Islamists from power with early elections. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood plays a prominent role in the formal opposition movement.

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In both those countries, political Islamists “have done their utmost to distance their groups from the political tactics used by the Egyptian [Muslim Brotherhood],” said Raphael Lefevre, author of Ashes of Hama: The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria.

The Syrian Brotherhood’s own spokesman, Zouheir Salem, recently said another candidate that broke from the Brotherhood, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, would have made a better Egyptian president.

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