Bahceli Changes His Rhetoric

SABAH- Columnist Oktay Eksi writes on the remarks Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli made at a press conference yesterday. A summary of his column is as follows:
Deputy Prime Minister and Nationalist Action Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahceli yesterday switched to a new rhetorical course at a press conference, slightly changing his well-known attitude concerning Turkish-European Union relations. Political circles were expecting that Bahceli would reiterate his concerns on the disputes between the coalition partners regarding relations between Turkey and the EU by focusing on certain sensitive matters such as the EU's Copenhagen criteria. The same circles also believed that Bahceli would announce his party was quitting from the government coalition. However, Bahceli did not make the expected remarks yesterday. Contrary to expectations, he underlined that the MHP did not want the current government to be changed. He also suggested that the MHP would not oppose any of the reforms to be made in order to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria, upon which the other coalition partners, the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the Motherland Party (ANAP), might reach an agreement with opposition parties. He critisized ANAP for hiding its real intentions, claiming that ANAP Chairman Mesut Yilmaz was not in favor of holding early elections this fall. Bahceli argued that ANAP wanted to postpone the elections. He insisted that the elections must be held on Nov. 3. It is clear from Bahceli's remarks that he felt he needed to make some changes to his rhetoric as elections are looming on the horizon and public opinion in favor of joining the EU is growing more evident.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION