Tunisia's President Moncef Marzouki defended the country's democratic transition Wednesday in the face of mounting violence by radical Islamists and a protracted political crisis, dpa reported.
"Tunisia is a tranquil country, and still is. Unfortunately we are living in an extremely unstable region. We're paying the price of what is happening in Mali, in Libya and in Syria," Marzouki, who met Tuesday in Paris with President Francois Hollande, told French radio.
Marzouki's visit was overshadowed by the breakdown in talks between Tunisia's political parties on the formation of a new government to end a four-month crisis.
The talks between the governing Islamist party Ennahda and the opposition were suspended Monday after the two sides failed to agree on a candidate for interim prime minister.
The deadlock reflects the deep distrust between the Islamists and their secular opponents, which was intensified by the assassination in July of opposition lawmaker Mohamed Brahmi by suspected Islamist radicals.
Marzouki said he was confident that the two sides would eventually find common ground.
"The national dialogue (in Tunisia) never stops. It's a Tunisian characteristic."
Since the revolution that overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, the small country that led the Arab Spring had flirted with chaos but always "pulled itself together," said.
"Our country is wise, and so is our political class...It's that wisdom and moderation of Tunisians which allows me to be extremely optimistic," the 68-year-old former human rights activist, who spent years in exile in France during Ben Ali's rule, said.
Marzouki also attempted to calm concerns about the growing threat from Islamist radicals, who have killed several security forces members in ambushes in recent months.
The insurgents shifted their sights to economic targets last week, carrying out a foiled suicide attack on a tourist hotel in the coastal town of Sousse.
No-one was injured in the attack but the incident raised fears for the fragile recovery of the tourist industry, one of Tunisia's biggest employers.
"We're dismantling terrorist networks, one by one," Marzouki assured. "The army is inflicting severe blows."