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Russian lawmaker is ambivalent about awarding Nobel Peace Prize to Tunisian NGOs

The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011

© AP Photo/Aimen Zine

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the international committee of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, said on Friday he had ambivalent feelings about awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to a group of mediators in the dialogue between the Tunisian government and the opposition.

"Frankly speaking, I have mixed feelings. It is hard to evaluate the merits of this quartet in the national settlement after the revolutionary events of 2011," he wrote in his Facebook account.

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Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet wins 2015 Nobel Peace Prize

On the other hand, in his words, the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize had gone to the Tunisian non-government organizations was "not the worst option," bearing in mind that the Peace Prize had previously been awarded to "such ‘peacemakers’ as Barack Obama and the European Union." "The prize might have been awarded to some ‘moderate’ Syrians or Poroshenko — there was such an initiative. In that case, it would be exactly like in Orwell’s novel — ‘war is peace,’" he said.

The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet "for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011."

The National Dialogue Quartet comprising the Tunisian General Labour Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers was formed in the summer of 2013 to resolve the acute political crisis in the country.

The Nobel Prize is worth 8 million Swedish crowns ($960,000). The awards ceremony will take place on December 10.

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Nobel Prize Tunisia

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