Tunisia's Strange Relationship with Israel

An excerpt from my latest article for Foreign Policy on Tunisia's strange relationship with Israel:

But about 80 members of Tunisia's national assembly weren't willing to leave it at that. They drafted a letter calling on Karboul and Sfar to appear before the assembly to respond to allegations that their moves to clarify the rules on visits by Israeli citizens amount to a "normalization" of ties with Israel. Tunisia opened a "diplomatic interest section," a sort of de facto embassy, in Israel in 1996, but shut it down four years later as a gesture of support for the Palestinian intifada. Since then, the Tunisian government has maintained a public stance of hostility to Israel, which it refuses to recognize. It's worth remembering that Tunisia hosted the Palestinian Liberation Organization for a time in the 1980s. (According to one historian, however, the government in Tunis granted the PLO this privilege only reluctantly, under considerable pressure from the United States.) Away from the public eye, Tunisia and Israel had continued to talk until the Tunisian uprising.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor says that, prior to the fall of former dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Israel had "good working relations" with Tunisian diplomats stationed in Ramallah, who used to handle Israeli visa requests.

"Since regime change, [Tunisian] diplomatic representatives have severed all ties with Israeli authorities," he says, although he's unwilling to offer an explanation for the sudden shift in policy. 

 To read the full article, click here.

Tunisia’s Politicians Play On

The Tunisian political game continues, thankfully without a brazen coup (for now), yet sadly without much regard for the needs of common citizens. Here is an excerpt from my latest analysis in the Cairo Review:

...despite deep ideological rifts, continuing economic woes, and regional pressures, Tunisia’s political game continues.
To understand Tunisia’s current political state, it is helpful to distinguish the public’s latent disenchantment, frustration and anger from the specific triggers that, in the last several months, sparked a series of demonstrations, moved large institutional players clearly into the opposition camp, and motivated opposition politicians to push for an end to Ennahda’s rule and the dissolution of Tunisia’s only elected body, the National Constituent Assembly.

To read the full article, click here.

Tunisia's Continuing Systemic Corruption

The following is an excerpt from my latest piece in Foreign Policy Magazine's Democracy Lab Project. The full article can be read here: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/25/the_godfathers_of_tunis

Belhassen Trabelsi is not your typical immigrant seeking refugee status in Canada. For starters, he arrived in Canada on a private jet. His family owned a $2.5 million mansion in Montreal -- at least until the Canadian government confiscated it. And unlike many people escaping their home countries, Trabelsi is fleeing a democratically elected government, one that came to power after the Tunisian people revolted against the rule of Trabelsi's brother-in-law, longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Trabelsi -- a balding, baby-faced 49-year-old with sunken eyes and a large double chin -- is the brother of Leila Trabelsi, Ben Ali's wife. According to U.S. Embassy cables leaked by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, Belhassen Trabelsi is "the most notorious family member" in Ben Ali's extended family. The cables refer to the entire family as a "quasi-mafia," noting that "the Trabelsis' strong-arm tactics and flagrant abuse of the system make them easy to hate." Described in the French press as a "hoodlum," Trabelsi profited from his sister's 1992 marriage, using public institutions and resources to create a Tunisian business empire that included luxury hotels, an airline, a radio station, a newspaper and two banks.

Trabelsi fled for Montreal when Tunisians took to the streets in the winter of 2011 to bring down the Ben Ali regime. Despite a request from the Tunisian government to extradite Trabelsi so that he may face justice, the Canadian authorities, by holding fast to legal procedures designed to protect the rights of legitimate asylum seekers, have allowed him to remain. Earlier this month, Trabelsi lost his bid to have his Canadian permanent residency reinstated, but it is likely he will remain in Canada for years while he appeals for refugee status.

In many ways, Tunisia's so-called Jasmine Revolution was a rejection of the corrupt system led by a small oligarchic clan in which Trabelsi figured so prominently. Yet even today, corruption remains one of Tunisia's major challenges in creating a democratic system. Tunisia has made some headway on the domestic front by confiscating local Ben Ali assets, bringing some of the old oligarchs into custody, and setting up anti-corruption mechanisms. Yet the new government is still struggling to fully reckon with the abuses of the past. One of the biggest challenges: Bringing all ex-regime figures to justice and recovering Tunisian financial assets -- over $15 billion by some estimates -- that were spirited away and hidden around the world.

"This is a fight between two groups: The Tunisian state and an international mafia," says Abderrahmane Ladgham, referring to the Trabelsi and Ben Ali family and those who continue to support them. Ladgham, a member of the coalition government's center-left Ettakatol party, is a deputy prime minister in charge of governance and the fight against corruption.

Optimistic ‘Social-Democratic’ Political Movement Presents Policy

Members of the Turkish Degisim Hareket (TDH), or Turkish Change Movement led by Sisli Mayor Mustafa Sarigul, put forward their vision on a wide range of policies in a press conference today.

Foreign Policy

Responding to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s vision for ‘zero problems with neighbors, members of the movement reacted strongly, calling for a prioritization of Turkey’s “firm anchorage in the Euro-Atlantic community”

“When we look at the ‘zero problems’ with neighbors policy what has been the result of it? Actually we have created problems with our friends, be it Azerbaijan, be it Israel,“ said Zeynep Dereli, a founding member and vice president of the party.

While members of the TDH say they appreciate some of the steps the current government has made in foreign affairs, they believe that their approach has been flawed. Despite the recent dropping of visa requirements for travel between Syria and Turkey, Faruk Logulu, former ambassador to the United States and member of the TDH, noted that “none of the problems Turkey has with Syria have been solved,” among them border claims and water rights.

Asked how they would vote were the question of fresh sanctions on Iran to come before a vote in the UN Security Council, in which Turkey is a non-permanent member, Ms. Dereli responded that “we should vote with the Euro-Atlantic region.”

The TDH has been making a concerted effort to talk to foreign countries, visiting embassies in Ankara and European capitals. Mr. Logolu also expressed his intention of visiting Washington, while Ms. Dereli criticized the current Justice and Development Party, AKP, of letting Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union go by the wayside.

Dividing the Left?

The TDH movement intends to become a political party prior to the next elections and expects to win, according to Mr. Logulu, at least 13% of the vote. Mr. Logulu denies that the movement, which defines itself as social democratic and whose leader is an ex-member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), will further divide the left wing constituency in Turkey.

“CHP does not seem to have the drive, the attraction, the arguments to come to power. They have not been able to succeed in significantly increasing their percentage of votes,” said Logulu.

The TDH hopes to appeal to constituents from across the political spectrum, “from left to right…nationalists and even ultranationalists,” according to Logulu. The question remains as to which political party stands to lose out most from the entrance of the TDH into the political realm- the current governing AKP or opposition parties.

“Where does this movement get its support from? The movement will get less votes from the CHP than from everybody else. In fact the movement gets more votes from the AKP than the CHP,” said Logulu. He did, however, admit that some of these numbers came from surveys conducted by pollsters close to the TDH movement.

(A portion of this article was published in Hurriyet Daily News)