Tunisia's democratic experiment at risk: Rached Ghannouchi's troubling exit

Over the past few days, the Middle East and the Islamic world have witnessed significant developments: the Foreign Minister of Egypt, Sameh Shoukry, visited Ankara and held a productive meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. A high-level delegation from Algeria visited the Syrian capital of Damascus and met with Bashar al-Assad. The Hamas leadership reached out to Saudi Arabia after a long hiatus. As a glimmer of hope for an end to the bloody civil war in Yemen, there were prisoner exchanges between the Houthis, backed by Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Two warring commanders in Sudan, Abdulfattah Burhan and Muhammed Hamideti, erupted into civil war after about three years of gritting their teeth at each other. Finally, on the night before last, Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of the Ennahda Movement in Tunisia, was arrested in a raid on his home.

All of these developments are undoubtedly important enough to warrant their own articles. However, what happened in Tunisia, the symbolic hub of the so-called Arab Spring, stands out a step further, and that's what I will be focusing on: After gaining independence from France in 1956 and being ruled under the authoritarian regime of Habib Bourguiba until 1987, Tunisia was ruled by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. When Ben Ali overthrew Bourguiba, who had appointed him as prime minister, by retiring him on the basis of a doctor's report, and took his seat, the period known as the "Arab Spring" officially began with the uprising of the people that began in the last days of 2010. When Rached Ghannouchi, who had been living in exile for years, returned to Tunisia, the doors to a "democratic" process were opened in the country's history. In the first election, the Ennahda Movement, led by Ghannouchi, came to power, but after 2013, there was intense opposition to Ennahda both domestically and abroad. Due to the dynamics of the time, the concept of "fighting political Islam" was also applied to Ennahda, and a heavy smear campaign was launched against Ghannouchi in the media, while political assassinations were simultaneously carried out in Tunisia. In such an atmosphere, Ghannouchi, who could clearly see the chaos that Tunisia was being dragged into, ensured that his party stepped down from power and shared the management of Tunisia's "vital" forces.The election of current President Kais Saied in 2019 was the result of a similar process. Saied's opponent, Nebil Karvi, was seen as "France's man," so the Ennahda Movement and all other components leaned towards Saied in the second round of the election. Saied won the presidency with a record-breaking 72% of the vote. Initially, Saied had good relations with Rached Ghannouchi, but in 2019, he suddenly dismissed the government, dissolved parliament, and banned Ennahda members, including Ghannouchi, who was the parliament's speaker. It is impossible to read the question "Why did this happen?" without considering some foreign actors who have been meddling in Tunisia from the beginning.

Despite all his constructive efforts, accommodating approaches, and meticulous attention to maintaining social peace in Tunisia, two points must be emphasized regarding Rached Ghannouchi's betrayal at the end of the road:

Particularly since 2014, Rached Ghannouchi has been a political actor constantly cited as an example for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan was advised to follow Ghannouchi's lead, to be accommodating, and to choose "conciliation." While Ghannouchi's "wise" stance was praised, he was also hailed for not falling into the same "mistakes" as the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood movement. Unfortunately, the outcomes were not different. The forces that form the illusion of "Political Islam" pushed aside even the most conciliatory and peaceful political actor in the Islamic world.Looking at the current situation, making a reverse reading by saying "if Ghannouchi had acted like Erdoğan, persisted in his own line, and didn't compromise, this wouldn't have happened" would be contrary to the realities of Tunisia. Ghannouchi, not only a politician but also a profound thinker, couldn't have acted differently given the circumstances in his country. Comparing Tunisia to Turkey directly is very difficult. For Ghannouchi, the most extreme option was to completely dissolve the movement he led and isolate himself from society entirely. Apart from the absurdity of expecting this from a politician, even then there was no guarantee that Ghannouchi would be left alone.

I was going to end the article by saying, "Let's see how democracy advocates will react to the arrest of an 82-year-old politician from his home in the middle of the night," but after experiencing many similar situations, I realized how ridiculous and inconsistent that question is.