ANKARA (A.A) - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has said that the new State Minister in charge of economy would successfully continue the implementation of the economic program and also focus on increasing production, during a press conference he held on Saturday afternoon.
Praising Kemal Dervis's efforts to recover the economy, Ecevit wished him success in his future activities.
''Turker worked as a financial consultant for many years and he is an experienced economist. I know he will have great contributions to our economy,'' he said.
''He will continue our economic program and focus on increasing production,'' he said. ''He will work to help small and middle size enterprises, tradesmen and artisans. He will work to lift the barriers in front of industrialists and merchants. He will try to make the income distribution more balanced in our country. He will work to help workers, civil servants, retired people and people of low income.''
ECEVIT SAYS DERVIS'S RESIGNATION WOULD NOT TROUBLE ECONOMY
Ecevit has said that the resignation of Kemal Dervis would not trouble the Turkish economy and it won't cause any problems in Turkey's relations with the IMF and the World Bank.
Turker said that he worked in the Democratic Left Party (DSP) for many years and he greatly benefitted from Ecevit's guidance.
He stated that he would use all his experience to increase national production and recover micro economy, industry and trade.
''I'll do my best to recover the economy with your support and with the support of our prime minister. I thank Mr. Ecevit for his confidence in me,'' Turker said.
When asked if he contacted with IMF president about the resignation of Mr. Dervis and the appointment of Mr. Turker in his place, Ecevit said that ''no, I didn't have such a contact. We sent a thank you letter to Mr. Dervis.''
When asked if the resignation of Mr. Kemal Dervis would affect economy, Prime Minister Ecevit said that ''I believe that Mr. Dervis's leaving the post won't disturb the economy in any way. There won't be any difficulty in our relations with IMF and World Bank. In fact the officials of these two organizations recently issued staements telling that their help to Turkey was not related with personalities, but directly related with the studies of the government. In that respect we don't have such a concern.''
Upon another question, Ecevit said that ''Mr. Dervis contributed significantly to overcoming the problems in Turkish economy. I don't know what he will do now. Yet I would like to thank him for the contributions he did so far.''
Ecevit said that he attributes great importance to relations with the EU.
When journalists asked if they would have election economy, Masum Turker said that ''no election economy will be implemented, as acting on the contrary will spoil the things we did in the last 3,5 years.''