MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak writes about his interview with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and Ecevit's views on the future of the government. A summary of his column is as follows:
The number 13 is going to be very important for Ecevit this week because if there are 13 more resignations from the DSP then Ecevit will have to resign from his post as prime minister. During my interview with the prime minister, he described the situation with Dervis as 'unprecedented.' Dervis is the only minister in the Cabinet who is not a member of Parliament, yet his resignation was still not accepted. The efforts of President Sezer kept him in government. The Nationalist Action Party (MHP) does not want Dervis to remain in government. But what's going to happen if they come right out and ask Ecevit to dismiss Dervis? In response to this question, Ecevit says he could resign. He says that he will try and explain to MHP leader Devlet Bahceli what might happen and how Turkey would be negatively affected if the implementation of the IMF- and World Bank-backed program were halted due to a Dervis crisis. He then adds that if he is not successful in convincing Bahceli, he might resign. If the Dervis crisis is solved, then he believes that the coalition partners can reach an agreement to hold elections next April 2003 instead of this November. That way, it will be possible to work with the opposition parties to pass the necessary EU adaptation laws. Ecevit looks much better now than he did in the last few weeks. As an ex-journalist, it seems that he was hurt by the campaign launched by some of his former colleagues for him to retire. So we ask him why he is so insistent on not stepping down. He tells us that he wants to be the leader to take the DSP to elections and that, that is how he wants to end the Ecevit era.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION