BY MAHMUT OVUR
SABAH- For years, the relationship between the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Socialist International (SI) had been a thorny one. They suffered particular problems over the Kurdish issue. But the biggest problem is that our social democrats haven't taken part in SI committees since the time of the Social Democratic People's Party (SHP). Former Culture Minister Ercan Karakas told me that nearly 160,000 parties from various countries with different stances are part of the SI, and that our problem is that the CHP doesn't give the SI enough importance or take part in its committee meetings. He added that participation on these committees is important for relations with other members of the group.
When this indifference of Turkey's social democrats was compounded by the CHP's anti-European Union stance, particularly after 2000, relations between the CHP and SI weakened and deteriorated. The CHP's stances on Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, the Foundations Law, and the military's e-memorandum before last year's presidential elections mad things worse. Confederation of Revolutionary Workers' Unions (DISK) head Suleyman Celebi said that certain CHP positions and those of European social democrats don't gel at all and that there are great differences in terms of democracy and global norms. He added that this problem is nothing new and that the SI can't change course in just two months, and that the problem is about whether the CHP will reposition itself or not.
CHP leader Deniz Baykal isn't attending this week's SI meeting in Athens, and so the already-weakened ties will suffer more. So will they break off entirely? Neither Karakas nor Celebi think so. More importantly, Karakas said that nobody represents Turkey on SI committees. This obviously means our exclusion. If you're not there, it means you're not involved in the issues which are discussed there. Karakas added that the CHP is inward-looking and seems not to care about international relations, and so its influence is meager. Karakas said that we could solve a great many problems on the international stage and that the SI could help in this. That's why the CHP is facing questions within the left. It used to be part of the SI as a 'modernizing party,' but now it's the target of much criticism. The CHP should respond to this.