“In Tunisia, which was ruled by a dictatorship for many years, a tutelage regime based on a secular dictatorship is being rebuilt after the interim period following the 'Arab Spring'. President Kais Saied, who ran a civil-looking coup process with the intervention and support of global and some regional power groups, dissolved the parliament in 2021. Kais Saied, who both expanded his powers and tied the executive branch to himself with the new decrees he passed, bypassed the legislature and took the country to a constitutional referendum on 25 July,” Ramanlı said and adding:  ”In the draft constitution submitted to the referendum, the article ‘The religion of Tunisia is Islam” was removed and replaced with the article ‘Tunisia is a part of the Islamic nation’.  In addition, the new Constitution grants the President uncontrollable power and broad powers.”

Reminding that the voter turnout for the referendum was very low due to the decision of almost all political parties in the country to boycott the referendum, Ramanlı went on to say: “In the referendum, only 27.54 percent of the voters went to the polls and voted. It was announced that 94.6% of those who went to the ballot box said 'yes' to the new constitution.  However, the reliability of the results announced regarding the referendum, which was held at a time when political oppression and impositions continued, has been overshadowed.  The results are in line with the referendum results of all other coup constitutions.”

Ramanlı noted that Tunisia, the birthplace of the ‘Arab Spring’, is facing a new dictatorship regime where all of its gains in the field of fundamental rights and freedoms have been lost one by one, and said: “The ongoing process is a process that is pregnant with new pains and traumas for the Tunisian people and in which the Islamic identity is clearly targeted. The fact that the article 'The religion of Tunisia is Islam' was removed from the Constitution in question shows this. The issue is not limited to Tunisia, but is a part of the efforts of global centers of exploitation and tutelage to secularize the Islamic geography with the help of local collaborators. The Tunisian people should defend their will through legitimate and civil methods by preserving their unity and solidarity against the dictatorship that is to be established.” (ILKHA)