Tunisia did not let its revolution be trampled by a coup

TUNISIA

Tunisia is the country where the first of the revolutions that began in 2011 and are called the Arab Spring took place. The day of the revolution is taken to be 14 January 2011, when Zeynelabidin bin Ali, who had ruled the country as a dictator for 23 years, left the country and took refuge in Saudi Arabia together with his wife, who was also his partner in dictatorship. We are in Tunisia one day after the 8th Anniversary of this date.

Tunisia is the country where the revolution first took place, in a way the country that within a short time exported its Revolution to the other Arab countries, but all of the revolutions it exported have, after a while, been frozen for now by coups organized and financed especially by SA and BAE. We say only frozen for now, because it is very clear that these freezes run counter to the sociology, the realities and the future of societies. The longer the time they hold back the current of revolution, the more violently it is bound to break down and sweep past the dams holding it. Because it is impossible to resist history, sociology, the realities of the world and the demands of societies any further.

Although Tunisia has been exposed to many counter-revolution attempts, it continued on its way with its Revolution by putting forward a model of its own. In Tunisia too, there was no tool left unused in the attempts to strangle and destroy the Revolution with a coup. Steps were taken that would leave Tunisia in economic difficulty and make it ungovernable. The SA and BAE administrations, which had withheld no support from Zeynelabidin b. Ali, largely halted all their earlier investments.

Thus they tried to create the impression that those who embark on the adventure of democracy are ultimately doomed to disappointment. They tried to rub the noses of those who tried to act independently by proving that they could not manage on their own and could not stand on their own feet. In this expectation, an arrogant and disdainful attitude of mastery is conspicuous in all its ugliness.

When this did not work, they played the terror card. Two opposition leaders were killed in assassinations by unknown perpetrators in 2013. We know very well what such murders mean. Exactly what was expected happened. Although it emerged that the killers were radical elements on the line of IŞİD, this was used, and is still being used, as an irrelevant element of pressure on the Nahda movement. Yet Nahda has no priority other than the settling of democracy in the country and the country attaining stability.

The sole target of those who use terror is democracy and stability. It is to prepare the ground for what came with the revolution to be taken away by a coup. The instruments of the coup plotters against the Arab Revolutions are the same strange composition in Tunisia as in Egypt and Syria: radical organizations like DAEŞ with Salafi pretensions, liberals and leftists. Each of them serves a different function, of course, but all are different strokes of the same coup.

Indeed, when mass demonstrations using this as a pretext were instigated by leftist unions, right after the coup in Egypt, to achieve the same result, Nahda, with a magnificent show of strength, at a moment when no one expected it, gathered very quietly and calmly a crowd several times larger than what all the leftist organizations had gathered, and gave the world a magnificent message: "We exported Revolution to our neighbors (Egypt), we have no intention whatsoever of importing a coup from them."

After that day no one could put forward the card of street demonstrations against Nahda.

Indeed, the political process that consolidated the Revolution and developed democracy in Tunisia advanced largely thanks to the prudent, self-sacrificing attitude, never withdrawing from dialogue, of Raşid el-Gannuşi, the wise leader of the Nahda movement. At every stage where dialogue was blocked, he made concessions where necessary, on his own behalf or on behalf of his movement. Thanks to this, a constitution agreed upon with the participation of all parties could be made, a referendum, two general elections and two presidential elections were held. Then last April the first local elections in Tunisia's history were also held. Only in the 2014 elections did Nahda fall slightly behind Nida Tunus, an alliance party founded by the merger of many parties, and become the second party; in all the elections other than that, Nahda was the party that stood up to the elections.

In the local elections, despite nearly 28 percent of the votes, it earned the right to run the municipalities of all the big cities. Tunisia, which is now in a very serious local government offensive, while living the subtleties of democracy with its Nahda, its Nida Tunus and its other parties, is experiencing, as a people, the pleasurable experience of determining the fate of their country.

Toward the end of this year the Presidential and Parliamentary elections will be held together. Tunisians place particular emphasis on these elections because they think that countries that can successfully hold three parliamentary elections in a row will be included in the class of democratic countries.

While the 8th Anniversary of the Revolution was being celebrated in Tunisia, it was being said that three days later the left-wing unions would hold a general strike against the government under the pretext of a pay raise for workers. The statements of the strike spokespeople also contained a threat that the actions would be escalated if their demands were not met. Everyone in Tunisia knows that the aim is in fact not to increase workers' wages or any claim in favor of workers. It is very clear that the aim is to bring down the government, to make a new coup attempt. That is why, when the strike arrived, it was seen that the people had little appetite for it.

Even though the people see that the government has not shown a very effective performance in solving economic problems after the revolution, they now trust that they brought the government themselves and can, when necessary, again remove it by election and bring whom they want. The will is in the hands of the people, and there is a sufficient level of awareness especially of whom or what the left-wing unions serve. This awareness does not allow the Revolution, which they won with a thousand and one ordeals, to be stolen by a two-faced, jackal-like coup plot.

After 8 years, Tunisia has largely thanks to Raşid Gannuşi's wise management of the process further consolidated its own revolution. Gannuşi's style of politics has created a model that will be the subject of doctoral theses and research. A lot of research is being done anyway.

Tunisia has serious economic problems. But it does not look as if all of these problems cannot be overcome with the same prudent approaches and a little time. For one thing, it is a country with a lot of potential. These days there are vigorous efforts to promote these potentials for foreign or domestic investment and to make them favorable. The packages prepared by the Ministries of Development and Investment offer very attractive opportunities for foreign investors. Let it be announced by us...