By Mohammed Osman

Doha: There is no contradiction between Islam and democracy as some extremists think and dictatorship is not unique for Muslims and it is not genetically or culturally linked to Muslims said Rashid Al Ghannouchi president of Ennahda Movement of Tunisia.

He said Islamic democracy is in fact the safety valve which ensures stability and prosperity of the Muslim and Arab countries.

“I am quite optimistic that Arab revolution would eventually succeed despite the stumbling blocks it is facing and despite the region having turned from promising democracies to swamps for seditions and conflicts” he added. The Tunisian experience which has impacted the region so its successful transition will also impact the region.

Al Ghannouchi talked about the Tunisia experience saying “We have managed to bring together the secularists and the Islamists who have been engaged in long conflicts to ensure democratic transition and adopted the principle of agreement instead of election in which the majority does not help in such fragile experience.

“We firmly stood against the law of exclusion for the former regime elements.”

Tunisia today is facing the challenge of terror and security alone is not the solution. There is the need to look for solution on the economic social and educational fronts as well.

Al Ghannouchi was speaking at the 10th Aljazeera Forum here yesterday and the panel discussion he was taking part as Keynote Speaker was titled “Regional and International Struggle in the Middle East”.

Aljazeera Forum brings together political leaders intellectuals journalists and activists from across the Arab world and beyond to explore and build dialogue on the future of the region in light of its current situation.

“We never thought that our case is this much complicated and will invite all these international and regional struggles. We did not learn from other experiences whether they were successful such as Turkey’s Tunisia’s or the failed ones like in Egypt or in Libya” said the prime Minister of the Syrian interim government Ahmed Tuma.

Speaking at the first session of the 10th Al Jazeera Forum Tuma counted a number of reasons that led to the delay of a solution in Syria saying that the international community is not convinced with readymade alternative for the regime lack of serious discussions for the form and content of the Syrian state.

The Islamists who have been opposing the regime for a long time could not convince the local and international community that they can be a better alternative to the regime. The regime successfully managed to turn the peaceful revolution into a violent one and the international community should not forget “our sacrifices and sufferings under the oppressive regime for more than fifty years”.

Answering questions from The Peninsula on the sidelines of the Forum Tuma said the issue of a federal system in Syria was not being discussed between the Opposition and the Syrian regime. “It is not an issue for discussion” he said point blank when asked if there would be a federal system in future Syria. He said the Syrian people were moving towards a decentralized administrative system not federal not of self-governance.

The administrative system in the 14 provinces of Syria which have not been formed on the basis of sectarianism regionalism or ethnicity will be the basis for the decentralized administrative system said Tuma.

Asked what kind of pressures they were facing to sit with the Syrian regime to negotiate their country’s future Tuma said: “Until now we haven’t faced much pressure as people would think but what is needed from us is to sit with the regime and provide our viewpoint about Syria’s future by answering 29 questions related to political transition and the transitional government.

He said the 29 questions have been given to both the sides to answer—the Syrian regime and us.

The Tunisian experience and Al Nahda movement’s opinions are worth a study. Al Tuma pointed out that Staffan De Mistura offered 29 questions to the Syrian opposition and the government and he said “I hope we have answered these questions before five years ago”.

“We are keen to maintain the unity of Syria and protect the rights of minority groups.” Finally Tuma called upon all governments and human rights organizations to pay attention to the hundreds of thousands of prisoners suffering from tortures in the Syrian jails. No struggle or competitions in Iraq but rather there is full domination of Iran in Iraq. Iran does not want a partner in Iraq and wants Iraq divided on sectarian and racial and regional basis said Dhafer Al Ani a member of the Iraqi Parliament.

The US “submitted” Iraq to Iran and has been asking other Arab countries to reach an understanding with Iran and co-exist with the reality on the ground he added.

The developments related to the Arab spring have questioned the future of the ruling regimes whether they are modern or traditional the form of the states the role of foreign powers and the future of the terrorist groups in the region said Dr. Abdulaziaz Sager Chairman of the Gulf Research Center Saudi Arabia.

The two-day forum also includes speakers from Saudi Arabia Turkey Russia Egypt Mauritania and Palestine.

The Syrian crisis is continuous because of failure of the International community to take strict and serious measures and the international community must reach a political solution ensuring a comprehensive change to rescue Syria from the risk of disunity said Foreign Minister

H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

The entire world and the Middle East in particular is facing the challenge of terrorism and extremism some of whose root causes are linked to poverty unemployment and ignorance that made many youths join terrorist organizations.

Speaking at the opening session of the 10th edition of Al Jazeera Forum “Regional and International Struggle in the Middle East the Foreign Minister said the majority of Middle Eastern countries have been suffering for decades from instability; lack of popular participation in decision-making; absence of social justice basic freedoms and disrespect for human rights; and failure of the international security system.

The main reason for instability in the region is the continuing Israeli occupation of Arab territories which the international community failed to end despite Israel’s violation of international resolutions laws systems and norms he added.

The international community adopted the two-state solution to settle the dispute but there is the need for exercising various forms of pressure on Israel to make it comply with the international resolutions.

In his opening remarks Chairman of Al Jazeera Media Network Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani said Al Jazeera Forum serves as an annual global platform for exchanging ideas and visions on different current issues and researched in their causes and implications. He pointed out that the 10th forum is taking place under critical situation the region is facing and the forum will help to discuss issues in-depth and with a more comprehensive vision that can answer many of the urgent questions in addition to offering ideas on possible solutions to ensure a better future for the people in the region. The Peninsula