HURRIYET- Columnist Tufan Turenc wries on a wave of new political parties in Turkey. A summary of his column is as follows:
We welcome Sema Piskinsut as the founder and chairwoman of Turkey's 44th political party and hope that the TDP will bring a breath of fresh air into Turkish politics. There are three more parties waiting in the wings and thus the number of political parties may reach 47 in the coming months. And these are only the parties espousing leftist views. Together with the planned parties avowing rightist, Turkkey may have a full 50 parties within two months. During national elections we may have even more than 50. Forty or more of these may take part in the elections and when such a great number of political parties participate, there is bound to be confusion. What is more, in a political spectrum so fragmented, what kind of a picture may emerge from the elections? I don't believe there is a single political expert who can answer this question. But, if that is the case, why did Mrs. Piskinsut establish this party? Can a party, which has no grassroots, raise support or attract votes? Sema Piskinsut may have founded this party to see whether it would succeed or not. Those who will form others will probably act with the same rationale. However, such a division in Turkish politics is not a way to solve the country's problems. We are moving through a difficult period when what we need most is political stability. As we wait for unification on both the left and the right, more divisions spring up. At present, everything is confused, but we hope that everything will eventually calm down and Turkey can achieve stability at the ballot-box.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION