PM content about ‘peaceful, democratic transformation’ in Tunisia

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has exchanged views with his Tunisian counterpart, Hamadi al-Jabali, on ways of strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries, in a conversation late on Sept. 3.

Al-Jabali initiated the ten minute conversation that took place on Monday, Anatolia news agency reported, citing anonymous officials from the prime ministry as sources.

During the conversation, Erdoğan expressed “his pleasure that the democratic transformation in Tunisia has taken place in a peaceful way,” Anatolia reported.

Recent news reports from Tunis indicate deep divisions within the current coalition government over the nature of the new constitution, the writing of which was due to have been completed by October, but which is now not expected until March.

The Ennahda movement, of which Jabali is a member, has been under fire from activists in recent weeks for interfering in the freedom of the Tunisian media, for seeking to curtail women’s rights, and for failing to rein in Tunisia’s resurgent Salafist movement.

In March of this year, Turkish President Abdullah Gül became the first foreign head of state to address the Tunisian parliament since the 2010 “Jasmine Revolution.”

In July, the month in which Turkey and Tunisia signed a deal to promote development cooperation on a number of issues ranging from industry to agriculture, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that Turkey had positively contributed to the rise of a democratically-elected government in Tunisia.