The 2011 Arab spring

Historical background : Ottoman domination and colonisation

European colonisation in the 19th - 20th century The 2011 uprisings

The Ottoman Empire extended from Algeria to Bagdad to the East and from Budapest to North of Somalia at the end of the 17th century.

Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen escaped the Ottoman civilization.

Greece, Turkey, North of Africa -except for Morocco- and the Middle East -except for Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen- were part of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1830, Algeria, Morocco, Greece and the North of the Black Sea were granted independence

In 1882, Egypt and the East of Europe gained their independence.

In 1923, all of these countries that were part of the Ottoman Empire were granted independence and in 1923, Turkey became a Republic.

Syria (1946), Lebanon (1946), Morocco (1956), Algeria (1962) were French. Lybia (1956) was italian. Egypt (1922), Iraq (1930), Jordan (1946), Israël (1948), Cyprus (1960), Kuwait (1961), Yemen (1967), Oman (1970), UAE (1971), Qatar (1971), Bahrain (1971) were British.

In Tunisia, Muslims are 98%, Christians 1%, Jewish and other make another 1%. 98% of Tunisian's citizens are arab, 1% are European and 1% are jewish and other.

In Egypt, 90-94% of the population are Muslims, 6-10% belong to Coptic Christian and other faiths. 99% of Egyptian citizens are eastern hamitic, 1% are Greek, Nubian, Armenian and other European nationalities.

In Syria, 74% of the population are Sunni Muslim, 16% are Alawite, Druze and other Muslim denominations, 10% of the population are Christian and Jewish. 90,3% of Syrian citizens are Arab, 9,7% are Kurds and Armenians.

In Yemen, the population is composed of Muslims, a small number of Jews, Christians and Hindus. Citizens are predominantly Arab, also Afro-arab, South Asians and Europeans.

Country Challenged leadership

Corruption ranking

Poverty Median age*

Type of protest** Motives Current situation

Morocco Sultan Mohammed VI

85/178 19% 26,5 Violent confrontations, boycott of elections

People want real constitutional change

Morocco has beeen facing severe economic problems

Tunisia Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali

59/178 7,6% 29,7 Violent confrontations

People against poverty and corruption,

Moderate Muslim Ennhada party won the country'first democrat elections

Syria Bashar Al-Assad

127/178 11,9% 21,5 Violent confrontations

Protest against crimes

People fled accross the border of Turkey

Lybia Muammar Gaddafi

146/178 n/a 24,2 Violent confrontations civil war

The end of Col. Gaddafi rules

Gaddafi was killed and the National Transitional Council which led the revolt is now recognised by the Un as lybia's legitimate ruling body