CUMHURIYET- Columnist Mustafa Balbay comments on the two basic issues in Turkish politics today. A summary of his column is as follows:
Our political edifice, which collapses on a daily basis and then is built anew, currently has two main issues before it: Baykal’s call for unity under his party and defections from the Motherland Party (ANAP). Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal had been content to stay a spectator to the scenarios swirling around Dervis and Cem, but then yesterday he made his move. He said, ‘I call on everybody who has both the means and the desire to join us. Let’s all unite under the CHP’s roof.’ He explained why he hadn’t made such a call up to now by saying, ‘I wanted to see the future and where the politicians are going. We are ready to embrace everybody.’ We asked Baykal his definition of ‘everybody,’ which appears to be very broad. ‘There are certain politicians in the DSP with whom we can work,’ he replied. There are also very valuable people in the YT. We cannot say no to those who favor us.’ Now we are in the midst of an election season and everybody is preparing to make their best play. We can consider Baykal’s call in this light, too. Baykal’s call has emerged in the following atmosphere:
The YT has lost some of its initial steam. It looks like a plane which made an excellent takeoff but is now having difficulty reaching the altitude it wants. - Dervis is continuing to make efforts to look for the thing that he will look for. As he lost a very important shield after his resignation, now he is in the media’s crosshairs. Ecevit’s final act lies as yet before him. His role in this act remains unclear.
Even as Baykal tries to open a broader umbrella against the possibility of the YT strengthening itself, there are certain defections from ANAP into the YT. What an interesting circle. Let’s examine ANAP’s current situation. Mesut Yilmaz, who has been searching for an alliance in the elections, is finding it difficult to do this even within his own party. ANAP, which gained ground in the conditions after the Sept. 12, 1980 coup, experienced a transformation at the beginning of the 1990s. When Suleyman Demirel was elected president and came on strained terms with his own party (the DYP), a rapprochement was reached between Yilmaz and Demirel. At that time, Tansu Ciller’s goal was to become an Ozal, and Yilmaz’s was to become a Demirel. During the last two elections, Demirel made it possible for politicians who are close to himself, or, better put, with whom he could form alliances in the future, to be elected deputies not from the DYP, but from ANAP. Yilmaz and Demirel came on strained terms during the presidential elections of 2000. During the discussions on extending Demirel’s term in office, Yilmaz searched for a way to pave his own path to the Presidential Palace. Nor did Demirel forget this! Now it’s clear that Demirel’s team is withdrawing from ANAP. Ibrahim Gurdal and Rifat Serdaroglu, who were among the founders of the DYP, joined the YT yesterday. If we also consider that DTP leader Mehmet Ali Bayar, who is seeking an alliance with the YT, was for many years Demirel’s foreign relations advisor at the Presidential Palace, we wouldn’t exaggerate by concluding that Demirel is now taking his revenge on ANAP. When we take into account that Osman Muftuoglu is also participating in the YT, then the picture becomes complete. Yasar Okuyan and Murat Basesgioglu, who is practicing politics by taking religious tendencies in the election campaigns into consideration, are preparing to leave ANAP as well. To sum up, it’s clear that Yilmaz’s efforts to postpone the elections have definite reasons.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION