A wave of anger in Parliament .. Was Ghannouchi wrong to visit Turkey?

Khamis bin Brik-Tunisia

The Tunisian parliament turned from a space for enacting legislation to something like a "conflict arena" after calling for changing the agenda of the plenary session on Wednesday to add a point related to the accountability of Parliament Speaker Rashid Ghannouchi about the content of his recent visit to Turkey and his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Today, it was late to consider discussing bills related to some loans, to open the way for the accountability session, which witnessed a sharp division between deputies who accused Ghannouchi of lining up behind the Turkish president and striking national sovereignty, and among others who rejected these "fabricated" criticisms.

The visit of Speaker of Parliament and leader of the Al-Nahda movement Rashid Ghannouchi to Turkey to meet with President Erdogan sparked great controversy among political circles, especially as it comes only a day after he refused to give confidence to the government of Habib al-Gamli.

"Constitutional" attack
The Free Constitutional Party, the descendant of the former regime, seized the opportunity of this controversy to launch a fierce attack against Ghannouchi under the pretext of striking national sovereignty, and he began a campaign in which he urged the rest of the blocs to collect 73 signatures to submit a petition to withdraw confidence from him.

These criticisms are no different from those directed by the Secretary-General of the Democratic Current Party, Ghazi Al-Shawashy, who tells Al-Jazeera Net that Ghannouchi's visit to Turkey in his official capacity as Speaker of Parliament without going through official channels is a blow to national sovereignty.

Al-Shawashy believes that this visit was harmful to the image of Tunisia, on the pretext that it violates diplomatic custom and initiates parallel diplomatic practice trampling on the powers of the President in charge of the country's foreign sovereignty, calling on the Head of State to take a position regarding "this breach."

A circuit of conflicts
Although he acknowledged that the law does not prevent the Speaker from retaining his party status or exercising his political activity, Chaouchi says that not all that the law permits can be tolerated, considering that Ghannouchi's visit to Turkey raises doubts and strikes at political morals.

And he expressed reservations about the visit, which he said comes at a time when the security situation in Libya is witnessing escalating tensions, not to mention the controversy left by the recent visit of the Turkish president to Tunisia and the emergence of talk about his attempt to use Tunisian lands.

Mysterious mission
For his part, independent deputy Yassin Ayari says that Ghannouchi's visit was vague and vague to Turkey, but considered that organizing an accountability session on that visit is a waste of time and does not serve the Tunisians who are waiting to improve the performance of parliament by enacting laws.

In his conversation with Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Ayyari sees that Al-Ghannouchi fell victim to his lack of experience at the head of the parliament, on the pretext that he confused his parliamentary responsibility with his partisan characterization, saying, "He no longer represents himself or his party, but rather he represents parliament, so he has to abide by the laws of the state."

Al-Ayyari acknowledged that there are political endeavors to disrupt the conduct of public sessions, fabricate crises and fuel polarization in order to score political points against their opponent, Al-Nahda Movement, considering that parliament has shifted from a space for enacting legislation to an arena for conflicts and conflicts.

Ghannouchi responds
Ghannouchi, who himself led a session to question his accusations, rejected the accusations, stressing that his visit to meet with the Turkish president falls within the scope of his personal and partisan visit, during which the administration of the parliament or its resources were not exploited.

Al-Ghannouchi attributed the heightened tension from his visit to the existence of an ideological sensitivity in some political circles against Turkey, calling on the deputies to be free from ideological considerations and to look at the issue from the consolidation of relations in the interest of the country.

He said that "there are those who linked my visit to Turkey a day after not giving confidence to the government of al-Jamali as if I went to present a report to Erdogan," noting that he took a date some time ago to meet with the Turkish president in his party, and that the date was decided according to the Turkish presidential calendar.

For his part, the prominent leader of the Renaissance movement, Nur al-Din al-Arabawi, said that there are political parties that have a "phobia" from the Renaissance movement and from Turkey, and have sought to strain the atmosphere within Parliament in order to direct its activities in directions that do not serve the interests of the country and the people.

In his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Arabawi was surprised by what he considered as prejudice against the speaker of parliament and an accusation of him using his official capacity, and the fact that he visited Turkey in his partisan role, stressing that there is an exposed insistence by some parties to score political points against Ennahda.

He also criticized the efforts of the Free Constitutional Party to withdraw confidence from Ghannouchi and fabricate several crises in Parliament, saying that he "is running after a mirage, and it is impossible to achieve his goal because the Renaissance movement has many friends."