“We consider the developments in Tunisia as a stain on democracy”, declared the Turkish President, assuring the support of his country to the Tunisian people as friend and brother.
“The dissolution of the elected Parliament in Tunisia is a blow to the will of the Tunisian people”, declared the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Turkish Head of State spoke about recent developments in Tunisia on Monday.
“We regret the dissolution of the Assembly of People’s Representatives in Tunisia, which had held a plenary session on March 30, 2022, and the investigation opened against the deputies who participated in it,” Erdogan said.
The Turkish President said he hoped that “these developments will not harm the process of transition to democratic legitimacy in Tunisia”, stressing the importance given to “the implementation of the roadmap for the holding of elections”.
“We believe that the transitional process will be successful only thanks to an inclusive and meaningful dialogue, with the contribution of all elements of society, including the Parliament which embodies the national will,” Erdogan insisted.
He recalled that democracy is a system where “the elected and the appointed respect each other”.
“We consider the developments in Tunisia as a stain on democracy. The dissolution of the Parliament which houses the elected officials worries us for the future of Tunisia and suddenly falls within the will of the Tunisian people. Turkey will continue to be alongside Tunisia and the Tunisian people, friends, and brothers,” Erdogan concluded.
The Tunisian Parliament had adopted, on March 30, during a virtual session, a law canceling the exceptional measures taken by President Kaïs Saïed on July 25, in particular the freezing of the prerogatives of Parliament, the promulgation of laws by presidential decree, and the dissolution of the Superior Council of the Judiciary.
A few hours later, Saïed announced, in a televised speech, the dissolution of Parliament “in order to preserve the State and its institutions”, considering that the meeting of Parliament and what came out of it were an “attempt to failed state”.
Several political and civil society forces reject Saïed’s emergency measures and equate them with a “coup against the Constitution”, while other forces support them, considering them as a “correction of the course of the revolution of 2011” which overthrew the regime of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Saïed, who began a 5-year presidential term in 2019, said his measures are “measures taken within the framework of the Constitution to protect the state from imminent danger”, and stressed that the rights and freedoms cannot be violated.
