Cem: Their First Target Is To Be In Power In First Elections

ANKARA (A.A) - 13.07.2002 - Ismail Cem, who resigned from his office in the Foreign Ministry and Democratic Left Party (DSP), said on Saturday that their first target was to be in the power in the first elections.
Responding to questions of reporters, Cem said that their party would be founded on the principles of social democracy.
Cem noted that they were forming a very serious group and that they had a good team. He expressed belief that their party would be in the power in the first elections.
The new party would be founded on the principles of social democracy, Cem stated. He said that different groups could unite around these principles.
Cem stressed that they seriously approached to especially the European Union (EU) and went on saying, ''the EU issue is so much discussed that it has lost its social esteem. Very significant decisions will be taken related with the EU in December. However, there is an obstruction about the EU. It can be the current government or another government. It is obvious that we will ensure the biggest support about the EU.''
''Our deputies are coming from the DSP. They are people who pioneered the EU. They will show necessary importance to EU, which is one of the most serious issues for us,'' Cem added.
Asked if they would form a coalition or join a possible coalition, Cem said, ''it is not time to talk about coalition right now. Besides, I cannot say anything by myself. I am meeting with Husamettin Ozkan and other deputies. I made a speech yesterday and a great support was extended to this speech.''
Cem continued, ''we see that we are supported by 56 percent in a survey which is carried out on the web-page of Milliyet daily and to which 14,000 people have joined so far. Around 13 percent of the people who joined the survey declared that they wanted to see the program. If half of this 13 percent appreciates our program and joins us, this will mean 60 percent of support. But, we will not have some dreams by taking into consideration all these.''
Noting that he was pleased that the society extended great support to their formation, Cem said, ''we have to deserve this confidence till the very end.''
''There is a concept which we call as contemporary majority. There are tradesmen, artisans, businessmen among this concept, in short there is contemporary people. We will evaluate contemporary accumulations. Those are Turkey's growth, equality and moreover the women-men equality,'' Cem stressed, ''I will continue evaluations with Mr. Ozkan. Evaluations with Mr. Dervis will be within the framework of a specific respect because he has a special position. We respect him and at the same time support him. We will have a meeting with the parliamentarians on Monday within this respect. We will be in an effort to set up a serious party and bring right mechanisms.''
Pointing out that they continued preparations for elections with the talks they carried out, Cem said they did not expect a probable election to take place not before two months.
Cem said, ''our preparations for elections continue within the framework of talks'', adding, ''I don't take into consideration the statements that we will not enter the elections. I find more valid the statements of jurists. We wanted to be the flags of constructiveness not the destruction. We will be in an effort to be far away from destructive attitudes.''
When asked how he evaluated the statements of State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli that he did not find attitude of Dervis as ethical, Cem said, ''Dervis is very important for this government and has a very important function. In this respect, I would like to say that I did not find the statements of Bahceli as appropriate. In the past three years, we together made style of politics gain respectability, and we don't want this respectability to disrupt.''
Responding to a question of a journalist about head scarf, Cem said, ''I don't want to speak about this on my own. I can express the statements of a collective wisdom on serious issues. However, I don't have a problem with headscarf. Don't forget, I am a parliamentarian from Kayseri.''
When asked if he was offended with Prime Minister Ecevit, Cem said, ''Bulent Ecevit made the biggest service to our people. Those services continue since 1960's. My quarrel with Mr. Ecevit is out of question. Reason of our resignation from DSP is that the party could not reveal necessary ideologies.''