Halici Says As Dsp, They Do Not Think Of Holding Early Elections

ANKARA (A.A) - 08.07.2002 - Democratic Left Party (DSP) Deputy Group Chairman Emrehan Halici said on Monday, ''as members of the DSP, we do not think of holding early elections. Statement of State Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli was not a call for early elections.''
''Statement of Bahceli was a reaction against scenarios about withdrawal of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and changes in the government,'' he said.
Halici held a press conference after meeting with deputies of the DSP under the leadership of DSP Deputy Chairperson Rahsan Ecevit.
''Upon desire of our deputies, we held a meeting at the DSP Headquarters under the leadership of Rahsan Ecevit. During the meeting, we put forward our reaction to recent campaign that distressed everyone. Our deputies have already been putting forward this reaction in every occassion. We also took up recent developments in Turkey briefly,'' he said.
When asked what he thought about Devlet Bahceli's statements about early elections, Halici said, ''you know that the Prime Minister earlier made a statement. As the DSP, we don't think of holding early elections. We believe that general elections should be held at its regular time. Actually, also Turkey expects this. There should be an economic and political stability. And you know that there are two pragrammes to this end. One of them is the economic programme and the other one is the national programme that we have to fulfil for European Union membership. While two programmes are under way, it is not true to talk about early elections. Unfortunately, several scenarios, several methods and models are tried to be prepared. Mr. Bahceli's statement is a reaction to some scenarios about stepping down of the Prime Minister and a change in the government. Mr. Bahceli has put forward the necessity of a method to remove a political uncertainty through elections after taking a decision at the legal grounds, that is, the parliament. This is not a call for early polls. We consider and evaluate his statement in this way.''
When a reporter said that here were some differences of opinion at the DSP, Halici said, ''such a thing is out of question in our party. Actually, today's meeting proved that there is not such a thing in our party.''
When asked whether or not they would invite Ozkan to resign, Halici said that they did not have such an authority.