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Ghannouchi: Arabs face a fight with the counter-revolution

September 30, 2014 at 2:35 pm

What is going on in the Arab world is a conflict between the will to change and efforts to return to “autocratic and authoritarian” regimes, the leader of the Tunisian Ennahda Movement Sheikh Rachid Al-Ghannouchi said yesterday.

“We see it as a conflict between the push forward and the attraction to the back,” he told the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar newspaper. “In summary, what is going on is a conflict between the state of revolution and the state of anti-revolution.”

Al-Ghannouchi noted that his movement welcomes Muslim Brotherhood members to reside in Tunis based on the criteria of the state and in the framework of the international community.

The veteran Islamic thinker and author said that his movement did not withdraw from ruling the country, but rather that it made concessions for the sake of Tunis.

In addition, he said: “We prioritised the public over the private and the national over the partisan. We prioritised the success of the democratic choice; therefore, we conceded ruling the country in an attempt to sacrifice for the sake of saving the democratic track. Thus, we succeeded to achieve national agreement.”

About the position of his movement regarding the war on ISIS, he said: “We refuse foreign military interference whatever the reasons behind it were. We respect the sovereignty of the states and the nations.”

He continued: “The position of Tunis in this regard was clear and dignified. It refused to take part in the international coalition in Iraq and Syria under the cover of fighting the so-called ISIS or war on terrorism.”