CUMHURIYET- Columnist Orhan Birgit writes on main opposition party leader Ciller’s statement that she will not attend the leaders’ summit if the prime minister cannot make it. A summary of his column is as follows:
Main opposition party leader Tansu Ciller issued a statement yesterday saying that she believed that Prime Minister Ecevit’s presence at the leaders’ conference called by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer was a must for her to attend the June 7 meeting at the Cankaya Palace. Important issues such as Turkey’s EU bid, broadcasting in Kurdish, and abolition of the death penalty will be discussed during this summit. The True Path Party (DYP) leader said that attending a summit where Ecevit was absent would be tantamount to accepting a government without a prime minister. She added that if she had been left in such a situation she would have resigned immediately and supported a minority government to be established by the DYP. The main opposition party leader seems to have forgotten that all those invited to the leaders’ summit are the chairmen of political parties and Ecevit is not invited there in his capacity as prime minister. In fact, the president’s aim was to convince the political parties having groups in Parliament of the recommendations taken by the National Security Council (MGK) in order to smooth the way to the EU. We hope that the prime minister will be able to attend the leaders’ summit. However, will his attendance at this summit draw a veil over all the speculations concerning his health? Even if he is tired of these speculations and resigns, does Ciller know what this entails? His resignation will be presented to the president. It will be published in the Official Gazette. As the 57th government resigns, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will begin consultations with the leaders of the political parties in assigning one of them as the prime minister. Although the old government may still seem in power, all things will come to a stop until the new government takes office. If a new government is formed, it will have to prepare its program, read it in the Parliament and ask for a vote of confidence. While Cankaya is trying to smooth out the problems on the way to EU by bringing the political parties to an agreement, Ciller is creating problems.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION