Ties with Syria becoming a hot topic in Tunisian presidential debates

Mohamed Abdelghaffar

The political scene in Tunisia has witnessed a large number of developments since the death of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi in July this year.

Political tensions are increasing in the North African state with a snap presidential election in the offing in mid-September.

Presidential candidates are racing against each other to win the hearts of Tunisian voters.

Syrian crisis

Relations between Tunisia and Syria are taking center stage in the presidential election debates in Tunisia. Each of the candidates adopts a different approach to these relations.

Outgoing minister of defense Abdelkarim Zbidi, who is one of the most outstanding candidates for the Tunisian presidency, plans to reopen the Tunisian embassy in Damascus in 2020 if elected.

He added in an interview with Reuters on August 28 that he would also allow Syria to reopen its embassy in Tunis.

Zbidi said he would work to return relations between his country and Syria to their former strong levels.

He added that he also plans to strengthen security cooperation between his country and Syria.

“This will contribute to improving the conditions of hundreds of Tunisian families in Syria,” Zbidi said. “It will also end the isolation the Syrian people suffers from.”

He said security coordination with Syria would help his country prevent the travel of thousands of Tunisian radicals to Syria.

Solving this problem will be difficult, he said, in the absence of strong relations between the two countries.

The position adopted by Abdelfattah Mourou, the candidate of Ennahda movement, the Muslim Brotherhood branch in Tunisia, is a lot less clear on the same issue.

There are expectations, meanwhile, that Mourou will be keen on implementing the agenda of his movement if elected, regardless of whether this will serve Tunisia’s interests or not.

The Brotherhood general has bad relations with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Islamist group also cooperated with other terrorist movements in trying to bring Assad’s regime down.

Mourou held a meeting with a group of Tunisian youth at his home in northern Tunis on August 26.

He said resuming relations with Syria was not a purely Tunisian decision.

“We cannot act independently from the position of the Arab League on Syria,” Mourou said.

He described the Syrian crisis as very “complicated”

He said if elected, his administration would work to get the necessary information about Tunisian nationals within the ranks of terrorist groups in Syria.

He said this would be done through cooperation with international police, widely known as Interpol.

It is clear, however, that Ennahda has not formulated a clear position on Syria. This was why Mourou said he would not take positions contrary to those of the Arab League.

This stands in stark contrast with Zbidi’s position on the same issue.

Essebsi kicked the Syrian ambassador out of Tunisia in February 2012 and stopped recognizing the Syrian regime. He also called on Assad to step down, following the November 2011 decision by the Arab League to freeze Syria’s membership in the pan-Arab organization.