Group protests against Erdogan's visit to Tunisia in front of the Turkish embassy in Tunis

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA)  -  A group of Tunisian politicians and civil society members Saturday held a sit-in in front of the Turkish embassy in Tunis to protest against what they saw as "the attempt by Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan to use Tunisia as a platform to carry out an aggression against Libya as he had previously done with Syria".

President Erdogan had recently paid a surprise visit to Tunisia after which he said he had reached an agreement with his Tunisian counterpart, Kais Saied, to support Libya's government of National Accord led by Fayez Sarraj and recognised by the international community.

The Tunisian presidency had, a day after the visit, denied having chosen one camp in Libya to support it against another, but remained equidistant between the various Libyan belligerents.

"The Tunisian president must take a clear position and must not remain neutral on such issues," said one of the protesters, saying that the statements issued by the presidency and the Tunisian president's declarations were "confusing", which caused "concern among the people".

Former minister and parliamentary bloc deputy Tehya Tounés, Mabrouk Korchid, said that "Turkey is a member of NATO, so a Turkish intervention in Libya is like an intervention of the organisation in this neighbouring country of Tunisia".

It said "the two peoples of Libya and Tunisia are one people in two states and that any NATO aggression against Libya is considered as an aggression against Tunisia".

He insisted on the need to let the Libyans solve their problems without foreign interference because "aggravating the situation in Libya is the same as doing the same for Tunisia".

He revealed, in this respect, that two parliamentary blocs "have taken the initiative to question the Tunisian Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs on the issue".

The Turkish president paid a surprise visit to Tunisia on Wednesday during which he met with the Tunisian president.

-0-    PANA    YY/IN/BEH/MTA/RA    29Dec2019