The big interview

El-Gawhary: “They wanted to destroy my career”

Middle East correspondent with Arab roots: Karim El-Gawhary (62) wants to stay that way.(Bild: MINITTA KANDLBAUER)

After 22 years, the ORF Middle East correspondent's contract expires at the end of June. In his first interview since this decision, Karim El-Gawhary (62) talks about farewells and new beginnings, campaigns against and in favor of him, and his place between two worlds, which has always been a minefield.

"Wait a minute!" Karim El-Gawhary exclaims when I reach him on his cell phone in Cairo. He is cooking and has to take the vegetable pan off the stove first. Then we talk about this interview. It takes place three days later—again on the phone—he has just finished a report for "ZiB." "Now I'm sitting in my apartment, which is also my office, looking out at a beautiful sunny day and the Nile."

The "voice of the Middle East" sounds as sonorous as ever. "I used to row on the Nile myself," he continues, "you go down the steps on the embankment at seven in the morning, crawl into the boat and you're in the middle of the water. All you can hear from the bustling city is a distant murmur. Rowing on the Nile is one of the most beautiful things you can do in Cairo." The sight of the Nile always has something calming, almost peaceful about it, says the correspondent, who has been reporting from the hot spots of the Middle East for more than three decades. He will soon no longer have this view because he is losing this office.