Turkey's parliament speaker calls for ‘rule of law’ in Tunisia

Turkey's parliament speaker called Tuesday for "constitutional order and rules of law" in Tunisia amid the political turmoil in the North African country.

"Our desire is for the Tunisian people to be governed by their own will, as they deserve, with a government in which the constitutional order and rules of law work," Mustafa Şentop told Turkish news channel Haber Global during a live interview as he is in Azerbaijan for talks.

Asked about the situation in Tunisia, Şentop said that some basic institutions could not be established in the country, including the Constitutional Court, because laws on the implementation of the constitution could not be enacted.

He said another issue is the dismissal of the prime minister, "because there is no authority given to the president to dismiss the prime minister."

"The prime minister can only be dismissed through a no-confidence vote in parliament," he said.

"The president may declare a state of emergency and take all kinds of measures, but these measures do not include suspending parliamentary work and dismissing the prime minister or government."

On Sunday, Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed the government of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, froze parliament and assumed executive authority with the assistance of a new prime minister.

The move was rejected by most of Tunisia's parliamentary blocs, including Ennahda, Heart of Tunisia, the Dignity Coalition and the People's Movement.

Following Saied's decisions, Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi described the president's move as nothing but a "full-fledged coup" against the Tunisian constitution, revolution and freedoms in the country.

Tunisia is seen as the only country that succeeded in carrying out a democratic transition among a group of Arab countries that witnessed popular revolutions which toppled their ruling regimes, including Egypt, Libya and Yemen.