Tunisian Islamist leader embraces Turkey, praises Erbakan

Turkey's political experience "inspires the Arab world," the leader of Tunisia's newly legalized Islamist movement Ennahda (Awakening) told reporters in Istanbul yesterday. Rached Ghannouchi, who was in exile during the rule of ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, came to Turkey to attend the funeral Tuesday of the country's first Islamist prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan. He told a mixed group of Turkish and Arab journalists that Turkey serves as an example for budding Tunisian democrats. "We're learning from the experience of Turkey, especially the peace that has been reached in the country between Islam and modernity; it's a true example," Ghannouchi said. His press conference took place at the Istanbul headquarters of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a Turkish Islamic charity that led the Gaza-bound aid flotilla raided by Israeli commandos last May, an operation that resulted in the deaths of nine activists.