Tunisians Protest Recruiting Men to Fight in Syria

Rawaa Qassem - Tunisia

Tunisians who are fighting in Syria - whether with the so-called "Free Syrian Army" or with fundamentalist organizations adopting al-Qaeda ideology - still pose some controversy in light of recent events.

Tunisian media, on the other hand, constantly slam these deceived men who kill themselves in Syria by an invitation from Tunisian, Egyptian, and Gulf Sheikhs.

Currently, this media and the civil society launch a vehement campaign on these Sheikhs. Some even backed down from visiting Tunisia in recent events, preferring to postpone their visit to another time until appropriate conditions come along and this campaign dwindles.

Protests

Families of the men who travelled to Syria to fight founded an organization and protested in front of the National Constitutional Headquarters, demanding an end to this bloodshed.
They slammed the governmental negligence, and called on the regime to seek knowledge of their children's fate.

Moreover, these protests grabbed local media's attention and foreign media working in Tunisia, whose large presence is evident after Ben Ali's regime stepped down.

Members of Parliament, in solidarity with these families, stated to pay more effort to stop these Tunisian men from travelling to fight in Syria. Some even vowed to attempt to call Syrian authorities and be informed of these men's fates, bring back whoever is still alive in Syrian prisons or on the frontline and try them in Tunisia.

Media of Shame

The Tunisian media - called "the media of shame" by governmental supporters - prompted to assume a prominent role in absence of any actual governmental one through establishing a private channel linked to the Syrian government.

A reporter who works in this channel was on air in a Syrian prison and conducted interviews with Tunisian and Libyan prisoners. The Tunisian public opinion, therefore, saw that their children are in good condition, spoke freely and expressed their convictions counter to the official Syrian point of view.
This was opposed to what was promoted of detainees being tortured and terrorized.

Furthermore, the program slammed the Tunisian government and President Marzouki for being hasty in breaking ties with Syria, and in turn cutting connections between Tunisia and Damascus.

Breaking ties negatively impacted this file, although both countries were known for their excellent and exceptional ties filled with mutual respect and cooperation through a supreme committee that met twice a year.

Tunisian Diaspora

On a similar note, extreme blame was addressed to the government regarding the absence of a Tunisian team or even an employee in the Tunisian Embassy in Beirut that would assume responsibility for the Tunisian Consulate in Syria. The Tunisian diaspora in Syria is large, and some had settled there for decades, yet they wait for ties to be restored between the two countries.

Some need to have their passports renewed or their IDs extracted so they can renew their stay in Syria. With the absence of these documents, authorities might mistake them as fighters against the regime. Some avoid leaving their residence because of this matter, reiterating that the decision of breaking Tunisian-Syrian ties was too hasty.

In this context, the Tunisian government responded to these criticizes and enforced the Tunisian Embassy's team in Beirut, which indicates the huge impact of the media in Tunisia on the public opinion after the revolution.

For his part, the new Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddo stated to a Tunisian daily, in his first exclusive since his designation as Minister, that his Ministry will exert extra effort to dismantle the networks that recruit Tunisians to fight in Syria.

Source: al-Ahed News, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org