MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak writes about the new shape of in Turkish politics in the wake of the passage of the EU harmonization laws. A summary of his column is as follows:
Following the adoption of the European Union reforms, there is now a road map in front of Turkey. If Turkey manages to get a date for the beginning of accession negotiations from the EU at its Copenhagen summit in December then we have a chance of becoming a full member in five to seven years. That is two election terms. Of course factors other than the EU itself will help to shape the Turkey’s future. A US operation in Iraq, pressure to settle the Cyprus issue and the future of the IMF-backed economic programme, for instance, will affect developments coming over the next year. As the military places great importance on institutionalization and strategic planning, by looking at the decisions of the Supreme Military Council we can tell what the military sees on the horizon. Gen. Hilmi Ozkok is due to take over the post of Chief of General Staff from Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu at the end of the month and former Gendarmerie General Commander Gen. Aytac Yalman has been appointed to be the new commander of the Ground Forces. Gen. Yalman is an experienced header who served in the southeast at a time when PKK terrorism was at its peak and he knows northern Iraq very well. By appointing Gen. Yalman, it seems that the military is preparing itself for a US operation in Iraq. In addition to concerns over the future of Iraq, the military is also going to be very sensitive about issues of internal politics. The newly enacted EU laws have given hope to the public. However, it’s unclear how the process leading up to the Copenhagen summit will be affected if the Justice and Development Party (AKP) emerges from the elections having the most seats in Parliament. The EU package almost didn’t pass as a whole, due to the AKP’s insistence on a constitutional amendment on the death penalty. AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party must change their ambivalent approach towards the EU. It looks like we’re all going to have to wait and see if the AKP is going to come to power and the kind of attitude it will adopt. However, clearly no one wants to experience another ‘Erbakan incident.’ If the AKP takes a pro-EU stance before the elections, then it will do its best, after elections, to give Turkey a better chance of becoming a full member. What’s more is that the Turkish public, including the people of the southeast, does not want politics based on ethnic and religious identity to be a source of tension anymore. As for State Minister for the Economy Kemal Dervis, he still has his reservations about the role he’ll play in Turkish politics. He is trying to unite left-wing parties to balance the power of the AKP. Let’s hope that with his indecisiveness he doesn’t divide the left even more.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION