This was once true, especially during the post-revolution years when Nasser's dreams of pan-Arabism were very much alive. So Egyptians are not genetically Arabs, but they may be so culturally and linguistically. All the invasions that Egypt has experienced over millennia, including the Arab invasion, do not seem to account for more than 15% of modern Egyptians' ancestry. Studies on modern Egyptian DNA support the view that neither Egyptian Muslims nor Copts are Arab. The only thing that ties me to the Arabs is the Arabic language." I'm an Egyptian and of pharaonic descent. As one Coptic friend tells me: "I maintain that I'm not an Arab. Most of Egypt's Copts maintain that they are the purest bloodline to have descended from the ancient Egyptians. In a region that is overwhelmingly Muslim, the terms Arab and Muslim have become almost synonymous, despite the presence of large numbers of Christians in several countries. The most adamant "Egyptian, not Arab" camp are the Christian Copts.
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