ANKARA (A.A) - 15.07.2002 - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Monday that the crisis won't give serious damage to Turkey.
Responding to questions live on CNN International tv channel, Ecevit said that the coalition government continued its studies in a very harmonious way during the last three years, adding that people could have different political tendencies after a long coalition period.
''I am afraid we are going through a difficult period, and it seems to continue for a certain period of time, but this won't give serious damage to Turkey, because democracy has settled down in Turkey. Our economy has started improving after a long time of crisis atmosphere. Now of course we expect a change of government, there is such an expectation. I believe that we will get over this stage,'' he said.
Ecevit said that he favoured State Minister Kemal Dervis to remain in power, but Dervis's having close relations with the new formation caused certain uncertainities.
Ecevit said that ''I want Mr. Dervis to stay in in Ankara and government. I insisted on this issue.
Mr. President also suggested him to do so. But he has close connections with the new political formation and this causes certain uncertainities and problems. I hope this political turmoil will be overcome.''
Ecevit said that there are certain problems within the coalition government, adding that ''we will see if there are serious problems this week. We will see if Mr. Dervis will stay with us or not.''
Upon a question about early elections, Ecevit said that the general tendency is to hold the elections either in November or December, adding that ''my preference is to make the government stay in power. I believe that the government has to complete its five year in power. I hope to stay in power until April 2004.''
Reminding that the 57th government started a very important structural reform programme, Ecevit said that the government has to stay in power for the effective completion of the reform programme.
Referring to resignations from DSP, Ecevit said that ''in fact this shows a very interesting situation. I don't have any problem with the deputies who resigned from the party. They don't have problems with me either. Yet there have been certain rumours about my health condition. I had ilnesses recently, but I am in good condition today. Some of my friends considered that too seriously and they thought that I would not stay in power and they left the party. This was a misperception. I believe that I will overcome this crisis without giving damage to the country and my party.''
When asked if the political turmoil in Turkey would affect Turkey's policy of spreading stability to its region, Ecevit said the stability has settled in Turkey despite certain problems. ''But I believe we can overcome these problems before they could harm the stability,'' he said.
The prime minister said that Turkey has been implementing successful EU reforms for three years but recently we faced a number of minor problems.
When asked if the crisis would affect the United States' problem regarding Iraq, Ecevit said that he didn't believe that this political crisis would affect Turkey's international relations.
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ecevit said that Turkey was ready to contribute to the improvements in the Middle East. ''We have very good relations with both sides. They want to hold a meeting in Turkey and we're ready to hos this meeting. This crisis is Turkey's domestic problem and it shouldn't affect Turkey's contribution to peace in the Middle East.''
The prime minister stressed that Turkey will maintain good relations with the United States regardless of which party is in power. ''The problems we're facing are political problems that could take place in every country and it won't change our relations with the United States,'' he said.