TURKPULSE No:56..........DECEMBER 2nd, 2001
The three coalition parties seem to be successfully overcoming the Opposition’s efforts to set them against one another through corruption charges, but it may not be the case for the religious party chairman, Tayyip Erdogan. Thirty thousand students were given scholarships during Erdogan’s term of duty, as mayor of Istanbul, one-tenth being foreigners of Arab and Caucasus origin. The Judiciary is now going into the details of these foreign students in the light of 11th September terrorism.
Just
as the “balance of horror” between the two blocs paradoxically preserved
world peace in the cold war period, the “horror of potential election
returns” for the three ruling parties is preserving the coalition
solidarity in the present Ecevit Government. Strenuous efforts at home and
from abroad to disrupt this government are, therefore, remaining abortive,
despite the not infrequent friction among the three coalition parties,
especially between ANAP and the MHP.
Coalition
parties passed over two serious hurdles last week
Last
week`s friction went as far as the accusation of “treason” against the
State Minister in charge of the TRT, Yilmaz Karakoyunlu (ANAP-Istanbul), by
a member of the Parliament’s Bureau, Ahmet Cakar (MHP-Istanbul), over a
Turkish film written by Karakoyunlu strongly criticising the “Varlik
Vergisi” (Wealth Tax) scandal in war years.
In
the early Forties the Inonu Administration passed a heavy wealth tax bill
arbitrarily imposing four times tax on the non-Muslim minorities of Istanbul
and those who failed to pay it were sent to Askale in eastern Turkey to work
on road construction. This scandalous practice was a blow to the Greek,
Armenian and Jewish minorities of Turkey and did not last longer than a year
under the pressure of the free world, but it was more of a fascist practice
than McCarthyism was in America after the war. Screening this film over the
TRT TV recently gave way to the nationalist MHP’s strong reaction against
Karakoyunlu and ANAP. The investigation is going on about its complaints
that the film played into the hands of the worldwide Armenian campaigns
against Turkey, but it seems that Karakoyunlu’s argument that every nation
should be able to face its wrongdoings of the past will eventually carry the
day. Certainly the coalition solidarity was not seriously harmed by this
event.
A
more serious threat to the coalition`s solidarity was Parliament’s
decision to set up an investigation committee against the former Public
Works Minister, Koray Aydin (MHP-Ankara), to look into charges of corruption
at the tenders of his Ministry while he was Minister. Parliament had
previously voted against such a parliamentary investigation, but now that
the recent 35 constitutional amendments call for secret ballot for such
motions, it was applied for the first time last Thursday (29th)
against Koray Aydin and resulted in its acceptance with 231 votes against
196. The opposition did not miss the opportunity of playing the MHP against
ANAP with claims that most of the latter’s members voted against Aydin,
but MHP Chairman and Deputy PM Devlet Bahceli dismissed these charges by
saying that they were respecting Parliament’s will. The Opposition is now
working on giving a similar opportunity to the MHP by tabling parliamentary
investigation motions against an ANAP minister, but by all indications the
coalition parties will not fall into these traps and the existing government
will continue at least for another year needed for the improvement of the
economy before facing any elections.
Is
the noose tightening around Tayyip Erdogan with Taliban involvements?
Meanwhile,
the coalition parties hope that the newly founded AK Party’s chairman,
Tayyip Erdogan, may get into trouble and loose the advantage of being new
with the investigation going on into his alleged misdeeds as the Mayor of
Istanbul.
Reputable
daily Milliyet’s columnist
Tuncay Ozkan has been especially active in bringing out serious allegations
against Erdogan and his latest revelations concern especially important
charges that may go as far as Taliban involvement.
While
in office in Istanbul Tayyip Erdogan gave scholarships to 30,000 students
and a recent investigation showed that one-tenth, about 3000, were foreign
students from the Caucasus and Arab countries. Religious foundations such as
“Hak Yol” and “Once (First) Insana Hizmet”, founded during Tayyip
Erdogan`s period, financed these activities with the donations they received
from the contractors who were given tenders from the Istanbul Metropolitan
Municipality. An interesting side to these scholarships is that the massive
expenses involved were made arbitrarily and with certain secret formulas,
which are now being deciphered. Who the foreign students were, what they are
doing now and how they were selected, these are all a mystery, but
interesting results are being obtained as the investigation is deepened.
Twenty-four defendants are being tried under arrest and 12 others, including
the Albayrak brothers who became billionaires during Tayyip Erdogan’s time
are at large abroad.
Ministry
of the Interior inspectors have found some useful data in the Metropolitan
Municipality’s computer recently and Tayyip Erdogan and his successor, Ali
Mufit Gurtuna, are facing a tightening noose. The worldwide Taliban and Al
Qaeda agents hunt led by Washington is making these scholarships affair
especially interesting, but it is yet too early to speculate.
Security forces call for measures against the PKK becoming political
One
of the main topics of scrutiny at the last session of the National Security
Council on Tuesday (27th) concerned PKK activities in the
Southeast, in addition to Cyprus and Afghanistan questions. Intelligence
reports presented to the NSC emphasize that the PKK defeated in its
terrorist activities is now rapidly heading to become political in
cooperation with or through infiltration into HADEP, the legally founded
political party of the Kurdish speaking people of the east and south-east.
According
to these reports, the PKK and HADEP are now preparing to launch a new
upsurge of unrest in the country, what they call the “Civilian
Disobedience Process”. They are planning “civilian resistance”
movements in especially the east and south-east Anatolia, by largely taking
advantage of the current economic crisis. The social hardships involved in
the economic measures pressed for by the IMF for its $10-14 billion loans to
Turkey next year within a new Standby agreement currently negotiated with
the Fund will facilitate these activities, it is believed.
That
is why security forces urge the government to step up its activities for the
development of the east in accordance with a plan that has been going on in
the south-east for more than a year now. To coordinate these activities
against the PKK’s new tactics in the offing the NSC has recommended a
minister of state to be designated for this task, in addition to the one
that already exists for the GAP region. It is believed that such a
coordinated work under a minister may cut the ground from under the PKK and
HADEP’s feet.
Naturally,
Turkey’s relations with Iraq and Washington’s policies in this regard
play vital roles in the performance of these activities. Secretary of State
Colin Powell will be visiting Ankara on 4-5 December at such an important
time for Turkey in both its domestic security arrangements and external
problems such as Iraq, Cyprus and Afghanistan. The measures currently being
taken in Ankara about all these issues will become much clearer after
Powell’s forthcoming visit. uras@ada.net.tr
- December 2nd, 2001