BEJI CAID ESSEBSI

When you are a politician, it means to work for the benefit of the country, not to stay home. In politics, it ends only when one dies.

We respect every religion. Everyone is free to practice his religion freely... In the Tunisian parliament, we have even Jews.

There is no dignity without work. You can't tell someone who has nothing to eat to stay patient.

The future begins today! What is important is what we do today and tomorrow for Tunisia and all its children. We must work hand in hand.

To fight extremism, we will need to pursue a two-pronged strategy: both 'hard,' through stricter control of our borders and a more robust and technologically advanced security response, and 'soft,' based on better intelligence-gathering, working to return our mosques to their spiritual function and barring entry to foreign preachers.

The Tunisian people will not bow. We will stay united against terrorism until we wipe out this phenomenon.

I've always maintained there is no incompatibility between Islam and democracy. The Europeans in general confuse Islam and Islamism. Islamism is a political movement that instrumentalises the religion to get to power, which has nothing to do with religion. Islam here in Tunisia is a religion of openness, of tolerance.

Tunisia, which is dear to all of us, is going through difficult circumstances, exceptional circumstances, that necessitate exceptional measures to face them and prevent a worse situation Our security forces are in a full alert status, but we do have weaknesses as our prime minister admitted. We are not blaming anyone, but we are calling for everyone to feel and act responsibly. If such incidents happen again, the state will collapse. It is the duty of the president to take a stance.

Tunisia is a civil state with no Islamic background or any other religious background. It has a republican system that cannot be violated or changed. These people [Islamic terrorists] are fighting all this. The continuous threats put Tunisia in a state of war.

There is no future for Tunisia without consensus among political parties and members of civil society.

Tunisia, which is dear to all of us, is going through difficult circumstances, exceptional circumstances, that necessitate exceptional measures to face them and prevent a worse situation Our security forces are in a full alert status, but we do have weaknesses as our prime minister admitted. We are not blaming anyone, but we are calling for everyone to feel and act responsibly. If such incidents happen again, the state will collapse. It is the duty of the president to take a stance.

Tunisia is a civil state with no Islamic background or any other religious background. It has a republican system that cannot be violated or changed. These people [Islamic terrorists] are fighting all this. The continuous threats put Tunisia in a state of war.

We respect every religion. Everyone is free to practice his religion freely... In the Tunisian parliament, we have even Jews.

The future begins today! What is important is what we do today and tomorrow for Tunisia and all its children. We must work hand in hand.

There is no future for Tunisia without consensus among political parties and members of civil society.

I've always maintained there is no incompatibility between Islam and democracy. The Europeans in general confuse Islam and Islamism. Islamism is a political movement that instrumentalises the religion to get to power, which has nothing to do with religion. Islam here in Tunisia is a religion of openness, of tolerance.

The democratic process is always vulnerable and threatened by terrorists, by parties that do not believe in democracy.

The Tunisian people will not bow. We will stay united against terrorism until we wipe out this phenomenon.

When you are a politician, it means to work for the benefit of the country, not to stay home. In politics, it ends only when one dies.

To fight extremism, we will need to pursue a two-pronged strategy: both 'hard,' through stricter control of our borders and a more robust and technologically advanced security response, and 'soft,' based on better intelligence-gathering, working to return our mosques to their spiritual function and barring entry to foreign preachers.

There is no dignity without work. You can't tell someone who has nothing to eat to stay patient.