MILLIYET- Columnist Yasemin Congar comments on the views of US officials on recent political developments in Turkey. A summary of her column is as follows:
‘What will Kemal Dervis do now? What do US officials expect him to do?’ When people ask me these questions I need to stress that the US officials are more curious about what other political leaders in Turkey could do than in Dervis’s next move. The Bush administration believes that since Dervis is a steady and honest politician, the answers to these two questions can be found in his own statements. I don’t mean that the US officials don’t have any close contacts with him. Everybody knows that Dervis and US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, a close friend of Dervis’s, recently held bilateral meetings in Washington and Istanbul and discussed recent developments in the Turkish political arena.
I’ve already stressed that the US officials are much more interested in what other Turkish politicians will do. For example, they are more curious about Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Deniz Baykal’s future moves. Many US analysts believe that the ‘center left,’ which is Dervis’ new slogan under which he believes certain political groups could unify, should include the members of the CHP. That’s why the US officials wonder whether Baykal will accept joining forces with Dervis and his followers. Asked one US analyst, ‘Won’t Baykal accept unifying with Dervis and New Turkey (YT) leader Ismail Cem under the roof of the CHP?’
Another important issue for Washington is the dispute between the left and the right. Although they consider the alliance recently formed by Cem and Democratic Turkey Party (DTP) leader Mehmet Ali Bayar a positive development for Turkish politics, they also believe that the rightist and leftist political parties might form alliances on a number of sensitive issues such as Turkey’s bid for European Union membership but should not make any concessions from their main targets and party programs.
The Washington administration understandably prefers a coalition government to be formed in Turkey, which would continue the trend of strengthening Turkish-US relations. That’s why the US has certain concerns about the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Although they believe that the AKP is a very important political party advocating moderate Islamic values, US officials assert that the AKP shouldn’t be the senior coalition partner since it doesn’t represent the majority view in Turkey.
The other political party about which Washington has certain concerns is the Nationalist Action Party (MHP). The Bush administration has doubts about whether the MHP could develop policies which would lead to positive developments in Turkey’s economic program, international relations and relations with the European Union.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION