Tunisia is goal to Turkey, Qatar: Ghannouchi tries to push Tunisia to the Brotherhood axis in Libya

At the end of last month, Tunisian Parliament Speaker Rachid Ghannouchi congratulated the Prime Minister of the Libyan Accord Government, Fayez Sarraj, on controlling the al-Wattia military base near the Tunisian border, and the statement did not pass quietly in Tunisia, but rather sparked a wave of criticism and protests from Ghannouchi’s behavior, Four blocks in the Tunisian People’s Assembly issued a statement regarding what it described as “interference by Speaker Rachid Ghannouchi in foreign policy and to involve the country in regional hubs conflicts.”

The 4 blocs whose statement was described as "hard-hitting," according to observers, included "Heart of Tunisia", "Reform", "Long live Tunisia", and "Future".

The internal Tunisian protest, which was followed by his calls from parliamentary blocs, to hold Ghannouchi accounted, mainly due to two factors, the first of which is that Ghannouchi encroached upon the powers of President Qais Saeed by conducting talks that put Tunisia in political alignments, not in the interest of the country.

Also, the statement reflected on the relationship between Saeed and Ghannouchi. According to observers, there is a state of apathy between Ghannouchi and the president following the steps of the leader of the recent Ennahda Movement.

And the other, that the communication was in its depth, an indication of a close connection between the parties of the "Muslim Brotherhood" axis, an organization that was born from his womb, Ennahda Movement and its leader, Tunisian Parliament Speaker Rachid Ghannouchi, who has strong ties with Turkey.

Ghannouchi's position presents a review of his biography and political composition, for a deeper understanding of the implications of his powers and the attempt to implicate Tunisia under the impulse of Turkey and Qatar in the regional hubs game.

Rachid Ghannouchi: the long arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia

The leader of Ennahda Movement, Rachid Ghannouchi, whose real name is Rachid al-Khuraiji, was born on June 22, 1941 in the city of al-Hamma in the Tunisian state of Gabes, he learned in his country, then he traveled in 1964 to Egypt and then Syria, where in 1968 he obtained a degree in philosophy from the University of Damascus, He then traveled to Paris, where he spent a short period, to return to the end of the sixties to Tunisia, to work as a professor of philosophy in secondary schools in the capital Tunis.

He was influenced by Islamic thought and advocacy, upon his return to his country, which described his conditions after his absence as the dominance of secularism over them, as mentioned in his biography, in reference to the secular approach taken by President Habib Bourguiba, to start his advocacy activity.

In 1972, he and some of his companions founded the "Islamic Group", which changed its name in 1981 to the "Islamic Trend Movement" and then to the "Ennahda Movement" in 1989.

The movement tried to dye society with a strict Islamic color through various methods: preaching lessons and seminars in mosques and intensifying lectures in secondary institutes and universities, as well as targeting women to persuade them to wear the hijab and adopt Islamic thought.

After a short time, Ghannouchi's activities began to cause concern to the authorities during the time of Habib Bourguiba, and charged him with fueling the unrest and sentenced him to the end of 1981, 11 Years imprisonment, including three years, and he was released, to be arrested, and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor in early 1987.

In the years between the eighties and nineties, this period was a stage of security prosecutions and prisons for members of the movement, and activated its clandestine advocacy work, and it committed acts of burning and bombing against various centers in Tunisia.

After Zine al Abidine Ben Ali came to power in 1987, he pardoned him in May 1988. The clash of the movement with the authorities began after Ennahda won about 17 percent of the vote in the 1989 legislative elections.

At the end of the same year, Rachid Ghannouchi left Tunisia for Algeria, then to London in 1991, after he was sentenced by the military court in Tunisia with other Islamic leaders to life imprisonment for "conspiracy" against the head of state. On January 30, 2011, Ghannouchi returned to Tunisia after the revolution and President Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.

After the Tunisian revolution, the movement wore a new dress in its policy, but it remained attached to its foundation, which is rooted in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. In its endeavor to penetrate society, the movement tried to erase all traces of Islamic extremism in the movement's speeches, and tried to present itself in a moderate form, similar to the Justice and Development Party in Turkey, which has original relations with Ennahda movement, so the movement accepted not to provide for Islamic law in the new Tunisian constitution that was completed Approved in 2014.

The movement led the Tunisian government, which it called the "Troika" government from 2011 until 2014, but it faced a severe crisis following the assassination of the anti-Islamist lawyer, Shukri Belaid on February 6, 2013, which led Hamadi Jebali (former Secretary General of the Ennahda Movement) to resign. From the premiership to succeed him in this leadership position, Ali al-Areed, then the crisis flared up after the assassination of Muhammad al-Brahmi, an opposition parliamentarian for Islamists, on July 25, 2013, after accusing fingers of accusing Islamists in the two assassinations, so that the Troika government would be forced to abandon the ruling in early 2014 for the benefit of an independent government.

In Tunisia, the Ennahda movement is seen as the long arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the country, especially after its rise in the reins of government, and the opposition holds Rachid Ghannouchi responsible for the rise of the Salafi jihadi movement in Tunisia.

in the media, it has failed to do so, as evidenced also by the congratulations of Rachid Ghannouchi, who faces internal suspicions of corruption, to Accord Government to control the base of al-Wattia, and it is congratulations that carries Tunisia into the side of Qatar and Turkey and their role in the Libyan crisis.

Ghannouchi exploits Tunisia to consolidate the domination of Turkey and Qatar in Libya

Tunisian writer and political researcher, Fadel al-Tayyashy, speaking to ANHA agency, believes that the past period has brought with it many political developments in Tunisia.

Most notably, it was criticism of the head of the Ennahda movement and Parliament speaker Rachid Ghannouchi for his foreign political moves.

Al-Tayyashi said, "The accusation of Rachid Ghannouchi of trying to interfere in foreign diplomatic affairs is due to the fact that these steps are within the powers of the President of the Republic."

And he points out that "the head of the Ennahda movement Rachid Ghannouchi recently faces accusations from some parties of lining up behind external parties, most notably the Turkish-Qatari axis, in connection with the Libyan issue."

According to al-Tayyashi, "the conclusion of these accusations took place after the contacts and visits he had made either with the Libyan Prime Minister Accord al-Sarraj or with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan."

"Ghannouchi says he works according to the dictates of international legitimacy that recognizes GNA, However, many observers and politicians in Tunisia believe that Tunisia should remain in a neutral position on the Libyan issue, since the issue is related to a conflict between two Libyan parties."

According to Al-Tayyashi, Ghannouchi is charged with interfering in an external matter that is not within his authority. The Tunisian constitution stipulates that foreign policy and diplomatic affairs and the expression of Tunisia's position on some external issues are the prerogative of the President of the Republic and to a lesser extent the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Consequently, what the Speaker of Parliament did recently was considered by some to be in violation of the constitution. But Ghannouchi seeks to justify this and classifies it as "parliamentary diplomacy" with which some countries deal.

The Tunisian writer and political researcher points out that "Ghannouchi’s speech led to the holding of a public session in Parliament at the request of the Free Constitutional Party for dialogue on foreign diplomacy and about the parliament’s ability to interfere in it, and also to account for Rachid Ghannouchi about his position on the Libyan issue and its alignment with one side without the other and what This may result from the involvement of the Tunisian state in the interest of one party and not the other. "

He continues: "The Free Constitutional Party presented a list for the purpose, and it was offered to vote in the plenary session of Parliament, but it did not have the required majority. But what is striking is that the list was voted by partner parties in Ennahda -led government coalition (People's Movement - Long live Tunisia - National Reform) This has made Ennahda rise up against these parties, and calls for a change in the government coalition, which was only a few months old and for the exclusion of these parties from the coalition. Thus, the government coalition has become today threatened with “explosion”, which will inevitably affect the general situation in the country, and will cause Once again, in a state of confusion and political instability. "

With regard to accusations, suspicions of corruption and property directed at Ghannouchi, Al-Tayyashi notes that "there are some parties that have demanded, by opening the money file of the Speaker of Parliament, Ennahda has responded to this by providing clarifications about Ghannouchi's property, pending the developments that will be revealed in the coming days.

Al-Tayyashi concludes his speech by saying: "In view of all of these days, many questions prevail over the political developments related to the continued cohesion of the government led by Ennhada (the government of Elias Al-Fakhfakh).  It is also related to the parliament headed by Rachid Ghannouchi, which some parties demand the dissolution of (the parliament) and the resumption of elections, and demands other parties to exclude Ghannouchi from his presidency. Observers are also talking about the possibility of this impact on the situation within Ennahda movement, in light of some people talking about the existence of a split within it in relation to whether Rachid Ghannouchi continues to lead it or not.

Other observers believe that Turkey and Qatar aim, through their deep relations with Rachid Ghannouchi, to take advantage of the powers of Ghannouchi, and turn Tunisia into a corridor and safe military station and other areas of support for the head of the Accord Government in his war with Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter.

However, they exclude the success of this plan, due to its great repercussions on Tunisia, and the latter's desire to overcome the issue of political alignments, which will only be at the expense of the Libyan people.

T/S

ANHA