TURKPULSE No:79GOVERNMENT WITHOUT ECEVIT IMPOSSIBLE TODAY
TURKPULSE No:79GOVERNMENT WITHOUT ECEVIT IMPOSSIBLE TODAY
The confusing, indeed bewildering or shocking developments in Turkish politics in recent weeks are crystal clear if only the American role in it is not dismissed as “conspiracy theory”. That role boils down to getting rid of PM Ecevit and the MHP from the Turkish Government at any cost, especially now that they are both a huge stumbling block in President Bush’s Saddam plans. The roles of Turkish politicians in this plot, overtly staged by Washington since last April or May, fluctuate but thanks to the Ataturkist structure of the Turkish State, i.e. the President, the judiciary, the security forces, and the bureaucracy, external forces stand no chance of winning this battle. It is a pity that a perfect politician like Mesut Yilmaz has made himself the victim of these games with utter naivety, rather than evil.
TURKPULSE No:80
RAPIDLY
CHANGING ATMOSPHERE FOR ELECTIONS
The atmosphere for the approaching November 3rd elections is changing rapidly since the Dervis factor has been removed by PM Ecevit about two months ago. The accusations directed against Dervis are also becoming louder and more direct. His successor Masum Turker described Kemal Dervis at Ecevit’s open-air rally in Denizli last Sunday (22nd) as imported “nifak tohumlari” (“seeds of discord imported from abroad”) that forced premature early elections. Despite the DSP’s initial opposition to early elections in Parliament, today PM Ecevit is the biggest assurance for elections on November 3rd, while most of the 449 yes votes are desperately making a last attempt to postpone the elections in less than 40 days to 3 November. They are sure to be frustrated as the government, in the last three months, has been staging an amazingly successful performance in putting into force economic measures that are eliminating or at least easing the social suffering and austerity of Dervis’s ongoing IMF program.