A New Week

BY YILMAZ OZTUNA
TURKIYE- This week the crisis over the new Board of Higher Education (YOK) law is likely to end. The next two weeks will continue in this mode, then the law will be signed by the president and the issue will be closed. New arrangements will be made in line with the law. However, most people believe that the president won’t like certain parts of it and so will send it back to Parliament to be reviewed. I concur, this could happen. This way the YOK issue would be reopened next month. University lecturers will stage protests on the streets again. However, this time the NATO meeting in Istanbul will be in the spotlight, so inevitably YOK will be overshadowed.
Istanbul will host prominent heads of state and government and nearly 2,000 members of the media. US President George W. Bush will explain the virtues of NATO’s supporting his ‘Pax Americana.’ He might introduce new proposals, so we should be prepared. Famous leaders of European countries will listen politely to Bush, but they may reject his ideas. There might be talk about Afghanistan and especially the Iraq issue. However, in the end there will be agreement. I hope we’ve entered a quiet and peaceful week.