Destour

Constitutional Liberal Party الحزب الحر الدستوري
Abbreviation	Destour
Former president	Abdelaziz Thâalbi (1921–1944)
Founded	4 June 1920 (1920-06-04)
Dissolved	1962
Preceded by	Young Tunisians
Succeeded by	Neo Destour
Ideology	Tunisian nationalism, Arab nationalism Pan-Arabism
Politics of Tunisia Political parties Elections

The Constitutional Liberal Party (Tunisian Arabic: حزب الحر الدستوري‎, Ḥizb el-Ḥor ed-Dostūrī), most commonly known as Destour, was a Tunisian political party, founded in 1920, which had as its goal to liberate Tunisia from French colonial control.

The term Destour is usually translated as constitutional, and referred to the Tunisian constitution of 1863—the first in the Arab world. It is probably of Persian origin through the presence of Turkish in Northern Africa during the 17th to the 19th century. There is no trace of this word in the Arabic spoken during the pre-Islamic period, nor in the Quran or hadiths, nor in the Arabic language literature during the period preceding the Ottoman Empire, during which this word began to be used in Egypt.

The party wanted to remove all French influence from Tunisia and return to an earlier time. The students, faculty, and alumni of the University of Ez-Zitouna became an integral part of the 1920s Destour party. As time passed, graduates from Sadiki College took the high level positions in the party, while Zitouna graduates were the lower and medium cadres of it.

Founding members

• Ahmed Taoufik El Madani
• Ahmed Essafi
• Salah Farhat
• Ali Kahia
• Mohieddine Klibi
• Hamouda Mestiri
• Ahmed Sakka
• Abdelaziz Thâalbi
• Habib Zouiten
• Hassen Guellaty

See also

• Neo Destour
• Parti Socialiste Destourian (PSD)
• Rassemblement Constitutionel Démocratique (RCD)

References

• Micaud, Charles A. "Bilingualism in North Africa: Cultural and Sociopolitical Implications." The Western Political Quarterly. March 1974. Volume 27, Issue 1. p. 92-103. Available on Jstor

External links

• (French) History of the beginning of the Destour