BY FIKRET BILA
MILLIYET- President Abdullah Gul yesterday met separately with opposition party leaders yesterday, and later, these leaders voiced their complaints. Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said that the time Gul set aside for the meetings was too short and what was said was lacking in substance. Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Zeki Sezer argued that it would have made more sense to hold a leaders' summit with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, instead of Gul meeting briefly with opposition leaders one by one. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli criticized the government's stance and presented his own plan to Gul.
Baykal said that there was no way a half-hour meeting could be productive and criticized Gul. He added that the gravity of the situation was clear and that such an issue could not be addressed in just 30 minutes. He added that from his meeting, he didn't get the impression that serious preparations were being made or that a national policy was being drawn up. `We now think Turkey is facing not mere terrorist attacks, but what amounts to a war,' said Baykal. `In line with the scope of this threat, there should be a national platform and policy with contributions from the opposition. The government doesn't seem to have grasped the seriousness of the issue.' Baykal added that Turkey can't tolerate the PKK attacks or the stance of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, saying that a cross-border operation was definitely needed.
Among the opposition leaders, Bahceli made the toughest suggestions for responses in the wake of the recent attacks. Bahceli told Gul that the government is unaware of its responsibility and that Turkey is facing a large-scale declaration of a war, not just terrorist attacks. Bahceli added that Barzani should also be included in the government's recent motion (authorizing a cross-border operation) and that his support for the terrorist PKK can be considered a casus belli and that the US should be told about this. He added that although the motion was passed, the government hasn't understood the meaning of this authority and its responsibility.
DSP leader Sezer also seemed dissatisfied by Gul. Sezer told me that Gul should meet with Erdogan and that a holding leaders' summit would have been more useful. Sezer told Gul that a cross-border operation should be carried out in northern Iraq but that it was very wrong to give the impression that Turkey needed US permission for this. So just like Bahceli, he stressed that it would be better if Erdogan took action before visiting the US on Nov. 5. These three opposition leaders agree that a cross-border operation is necessary and argue that Gul and the government should draw up a policy of national consensus with opposition leaders.