10 Dinars 1997 Coup d'état 10th Anniversary, Arabic legend

The "coup d'état" this coin commemorates is the November 7, 1987 removal of Habib Bourguiba by Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who declared the aging president medically unfit to govern — a constitutional maneuver that avoided the messiness of a trial. Ben Ali then ruled Tunisia for over two decades before being ousted himself during the 2011 Arab Spring. Issuing a silver commemorative through the central bank to mark his own seizure of power was characteristically self-congratulatory, and these pieces were produced as much for diplomatic gift-giving as for numismatic distribution.