Cicek: Urgent Action Plan Was Reviewed

ANKARA - Justice Minister and Government Spokesman Cemil Cicek said on Thursday that the Urgent Action Plan had been reviewed at the Council of Ministers meeting, adding, ''it was decided to rapidly adopt the bills that were transferred to the parliament and accelerate works at the ministries.''
Following today's Council of Ministers meeting which lasted nearly four and a half hours, Cicek made a statement on the issues discussed at the meeting.
Noting that the Urgent Action Plan constituted the schedule of the government program, Cicek said the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government was formed five and half months ago and during this period, the government had transferred several bills to the parliament, and ministries had sent several bills to the Prime Ministry.
Explaining that the Urgent Action Plan included a total of 205 fields of action, Cicek said that 45 of them were about public management reforms, 91 of them were about economic transformation projects, 24 of them were about democratization and judicial reforms, and 45 of them were about social reforms.
Stressing that the target of all those reforms was to offer efficient, productive and rapid public service of high quality to people, Cicek said that they aimed to seek lasting solution to existing problems.
Noting that repayment of compulsory savings to workers and civil servants was one of the issues discussed at the meeting, Cicek said, ''it is a problem that has fifteen years of history. The AK Party government is the responsible side for this problem. As a power which solves problems, the AK Party government reached an agreement with the sides and set a schedule for repayment of these savings.''
Recalling that the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey would be celebrated this year, Cicek said that State Minister Besir Atalay had given information on this issue at the meeting.
Stating that another issue that the cabinet members had discussed was the law on compulsory retirement age on which the Constitutional Court had decided to cease the validity, Cicek said that as a result of their assessment, they had decided to make a new legal arrangement to prevent any chaos by taking into consideration the possibility of a legal vacuum.
Explaining that they had also taken up issues related with the European Union (EU), Cicek said that the EU was an issue to which the government attributed importance.
Cicek said that even their 5-Year Development Program had been discussed for at least one and a half months at the parliament but a comprehensive issue about at least fifty or hundred years future of Turkey had been taken up only for twenty minutes in the past.
Stressing that the EU offered countless benefits, Cicek said, ''Turkey's membership to a union like the EU is of vital importance for our country.''
''As the state and the parliament, we have taken our decision on this issue. However, hesitations occur while we fulfil the requirements of this decision, especially during adoption of the bills or during perception of them by the public opinion. Also the Republican People's Party's (CHP) support is important in terms of adoption of bills and amendments to laws. So as the government, we think it is beneficial to discuss the issue again in the parliament. With this respect, we will make a request for a parliamentary session on this issue next week, probably next Thursday,'' Cicek added.
CICEK SAYS NEW LEGAL REGULATION TO BE MADE ABOUT RETIREMENT OF CIVIL SERVANTS
Cicek said that a new legal regulation would be made following the decision taken by the Constitutional Court which stopped the enforcement of the law which decreased the age of retirement from 65 to 61.
Responding to questions of journalists after the cabinet meeting, Cicek said that there was a legal vacuum about retirement of civil servants after the decision taken by the Constitutional Court. He said both Justice Ministry and the Prime Ministry were examining the issue.
Cicek said that a new legal regulation was necessary, adding that the content of this legal regulation would become clear within few days.
Upon a question asking if the civil servants who were retired under this law would return to their posts, Cicek said that ''we concluded that we need a new regulation as the issue had many dimensions. We will do it rapidly.''
Cicek said that according to Article 153 of the Constitution, the decisions of the Constitutional Court were binding for everybody, adding that the government had to fill in the legal vacuum that came out by preparing a new law.
When asked a question about the 45 social projects which were in the Urgent Action Plan of the government, Cicek said that unemployment was an important problem, adding that unemployment was a result of poverty. ''The economic crisis which Turkey had increased significantly the existing unemployment. We launch efforts to revive the economy and to create new investment opportunities in order to decrease unemployment. A new social policy is pursued by the Fund of Social Assistance and Solidarity.''
Responding to a question asking if there was a study on abolishment of the Prime Ministry Follow-Up Committee, Cicek said that the government had no study about that.
Cicek stressed that it was asked to him the other day that if the government was considering to reconstruct the National Security Council, Cicek said that the government didn't have any study about that issue, too.
Upon a question whether they discussed relations with the United States in the meeting, Cicek said, ''the United States is a very important country for Turkey. We have cooperation and friendship with that country depending on 57 years. Turkey attributes importance to this friendship. It tries to meet the requirements of this friendship within its opportunities and by overlapping its own interests. Sometimes road accidents occur due to various reasons in foreign relations and bilateral state relations. It is not true to lose all of these relations by hanging up on those accidents.''
''Turkey hosted Italian Prime Minister a few days ago. You also know on what point our relations were with Italy only a few years ago. Bringing relations between countries to a better level all the time is our effort. We attribute utmost importance to the United States at that point. We are in favor of carrying on cooperation with the United States in every field. I hope that there are very good cooperation examples in this point. Especially Middle East seems to be an important cooperation field at the moment. The United States has some activities in that region. Our Prime Minister will talk about these issues in his speech in Antalya tomorrow,'' noted Cicek.
Cicek said, ''we, as Turkey, want Middle East to be peace geography as the United States undertakes a more active role in that region. This geography suffered from terrorism too much. In times, this region became the land of terrorism and terror was protected. There were some states which used this terror as a tool of politics. Thus, many innocent people lost their lives. We, as a country which suffered too much from terrorism, cannot be tolerant and cannot have a positive view towards these. We curse terrorism regardless of why, for what and for whom it was committed. We are in cooperation against these. Especially the incident which occurred in Saudi Arabia showed Turkey's thesis on that point more clearly. We want all the countries to be in cooperation against terrorism and want terrorism to be rooted out. We make and are making more cooperation with the United States in fight against terrorism when compared with the past.''
Cicek also said that Turkey was ready for every type of cooperation especially with the United States and the United Nations in providing peace and tranquility in Iraq and in healing the pains of people in Iraq.
When asked on what point were the studies regarding the 6th Adjustment Package in adjustment to the European Union, Cicek said, ''it is on the last point and we have a research about a law. Because, this 6th Adjustment Package requires amendment in ten laws. Studies regarding nine of them are completed. We will send the package after overcoming the deficiency about one law.''

(ÖS-GC-AÖ) 15.05.2003