1. The 2011 Arab spring Historical background : Ottoman domination and colonisation European colonisation in the 19 th - 20 th century The 2011 uprisings

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. CountryChallenged leadership Corrupti on ranking PovertyMedia n age* Type of protest**MotivesCurrent situation MoroccoSultan Mohammed VI 85/17819%26,5Violent confrontations, boycott of elections People want real constitution al change Morocco has beeen facing severe economic problems TunisiaZine Al- Abidine Ben Ali 59/1787,6%29,7Violent confrontations People against poverty and corruption, Moderate Muslim Ennhada party won the country'first democrat elections SyriaBashar Al- Assad 127/17 8 11,9%21,5Violent confrontations Protest against crimes People fled accross the border of Turkey LybiaMuammar Gaddafi 146/17 8 n/a24,2Violent 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