DUZCE - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Sunday that Democratic Left Party (DSP) did not lose any time with alliances.
Ecevit, who came to quake-hit Duzce province and addressed people there, said that he hoped that people would know the value of DSP.
''After the earthquakes which hit Turkey in 1999, we have especially started to exert all efforts and implement all kind of measures against earthquakes,'' Ecevit noted.
Ecevit stated that the state and people were more conscious towards natural disasters.
An earthquake insurance application was started in Turkey for the first time, Ecevit pointed out.
Ecevit said that a new construction control system was developed, Turkish Emergency Situation Management General Directorate was founded, and students were educated about the things to be done in case of natural disasters.
Armed forces, miners, civil defense teams and voluntary organizations exerted great efforts after the earthquakes, Ecevit noted.
Ecevit stated that the 57th government was in the power for three and a half years and that the three coalition parties with different views exhibited an example of compromise.
''We needed some more time because we had started to achieve great things. We needed two and a half more years in order to make more things. There was not any serious problems among the coalition partners. But, I do not know what had happened and that coalition was harmed,'' Ecevit said.
Ecevit stated that the leaders of the ruling parties had previously taken a decision to hold the elections on the earlier scheduled time however, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader and Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli later wanted early elections.
His party was against early elections, Ecevit pointed out. However, he said, they took a decision to hold early elections.
Ecevit noted, ''now, everything is in a mess. Whoever will work with whom and whatever people are doing are not clear. The citizens are confused.''
Pointing out that other parties and business circles called for ''early elections soon'' but that everybody came to their senses after the date of the elections was determined, Ecevit said the society began to say, ''from where the talks started for elections''
Ecevit said they caught Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the terrorist organization, who made Turkish people suffer for long years, in an African country and brought to Turkey, noting that, ''they said he caught Ocalan and increased number of his votes because of this. Our votes increased as we have shown our statesmanship with that issue.''
Stressing that he and his party could not digest criticisms on Ocalan issue, Ecevit said, ''we have not talked big when we caught Ocalan in an African country. We said it was the power of our state which had done this.''
Speaking about the 3,5 years activities of the 57th governmen, Ecevit said very important reforms were made in jurisdiction, the prisons were improved, torture was abolished, separatist terrorism was eradicated, secret killings decreased, and that mafia and corruption were also decreased to a great extent.
Ecevit said the Turkish economy, which passed through a long crisis period began to revive and banking reform was put into implementation, adding that corruption about customs bureaus decreased.
He said structural reforms were almost completed, and that they were at the stage of implementation. Ecevit also said, ''Turkey is a more advanced and contemporary country from now on. So that we can now knock the doors of the EU in confidence.
Pointing out that unemployment insurance was put into effect, and that hundreds of temporary workers were taken to cadre, and that they were in an effort to lift imbalance of salaries among civil servants, Ecevit said village-city project was one of the biggest projects which the government started.
Ecevit said there were nearly 40,000 villages and 40,000 hamlets in Turkey and that it was impossible for the state to bring service to all of them, adding that, ''we will unite their forces. Only one village can not do anything, but very strong high schools can be set up if 7-8 villages join their forces. Turkey may complete this project in a short time. However, the governments who want this should come to ruling.''