SABAH- Columnist Mehmet Tezkan comments on the future of the present government. A summary of his column is as follows:
The fate of the government will be clarified during the first week of June. Either Turkey will take a step to put itself back on track or everything will fall apart. Following Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli’s visit to China, another leaders’ summit will take place. The issue of Turkey’s admittance to the EU will be discussed again and there will be no chance of postponing it then. The issue at hand is if the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) insists on its stand, and no compromise is reached on lifting capital punishment and allowing broadcasting in Kurdish, how will the Motherland Party (ANAP) react? Will it accept these views in order to avoid early general elections or will it stake all by saying it would not allow laying mines on the road to the EU? There is such a possibility. If we closely scrutinize the speeches delivered by Yilmaz, we may see signs of it as he has adopted Turkey’s EU bid as his own personal mission. Yilmaz, who predicts that Turkey could be reduced to the situation of other Middle Eastern states, cannot stay in a government acting at odds with itself. If he stakes all, elections will become the only solution. On the MHP front the situation is not much different. Like the Democratic Left Party (DSP), ANAP and the MHP believe that there should be no elections until the economy is straightened out, and the country can breathe freely. Will the MHP, which espouses such an aim, say no to reform bills? The answer is not certain as Bahceli has always left an opening and hasn’t boxed himself in with unambiguous declarations. He only expressed his concerns. Therefore the ball is in Bahceli’s court, and that is why the leaders’ summit in June carries such great importance. It will decide the future of the government.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION