CRITICAL WEEK IN POLITICS
Following Parliament’s decision to hold early elections on Nov. 3, Turkey is set to see another busy political period this week. All eyes have turned to a meeting scheduled today between Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal and former State Minister for the Economy Kemal Dervis. During the meeting, a framework is to be drawn up for unity on the left. Nine Democratic Left Party (DSP) opposition deputies who made a statement last week supporting the CHP and Dervis are expected to leave the DSP this week. Meanwhile, according to rumors in political circles, certain deputies who resigned from the DSP following Dervis’s lead may join the CHP. Ismail Cem’s New Turkey Party (YTP) will reportedly make a decision to form an alliance with Mehmet Ali Bayar’s Democratic Turkey Party (DTP) this week. The YTP’s great disappointment at Dervis’s leaning towards the CHP is still evident. In addition, Motherland Party (ANAP) Deputy Erkan Mumcu, who opposes party leader Mesut Yilmaz, and Yasar Okuyan, who resigned from ANAP’s deputy chairmanship post last week, are to decide on their political future this week. Additionally, ex-ANAP Deputy Murat Baseskioglu is expected to join the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Contacts between political parties concerning the possibility of alliances in the upcoming elections are continuing. Negotiations between the Felicity Party (SP) and the People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) are expected to be concluded this week. On the other side of the spectrum, the True Path Party (DYP) is set to hold meetings with certain parties in line with their call for a “unification on the center-left.” /All Papers/
BAYKAL: “THE CHP’S GRASSROOTS WILL EMBRACE DERVIS”
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal stated yesterday that the CHP’s grassroots would embrace former Economy Minister Kemal Dervis. Baykal also said that there would be no problem in Dervis joining the CHP. “Our meetings would take two or three days, during which time we would determine a program,” added Baykal. This would not be a CHP program, but rather an election program, stated Baykal. /Hurriyet/
BAYKAL: “THE CHP IS OPEN TO CEM AND ECEVIT”
In a continuing effort to establish unity among Turkey’s leftist parties, Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal yesterday made another call for Prime Minister and Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Bulent Ecevit and New Turkey Party (YTP) leader Ismail Cem to stand together with the CHP. Baykal’s call for unity came in the leadup to his meeting this afternoon with former Economy Minister Kemal Dervis, who last week declined to join the YTP in light of that party’s rejection of leftist alliance initiatives. Calling on Ecevit to “come home,” Baykal stated, “The door to the CHP stands completely open to Cem and Ecevit. Our call is no passing thing, and our sincerity will continue.” Laying out his party’s program should it come to power, he added, “We will end parliamentary immunity, and deputies will have to stand trial just like ordinary citizens. We will cut the number of ministries and under our leadership, and corrupt officials will lost their posts and face punishment. The plague of high interest rates will be ended. We will extend high school from three years to four and open vocational schools in every field. We will make the social security system and hospital administration into separate entities. We will establish free village clinics wherever they are needed. We will preside over an agriculture revolution and boost the number of greenhouses threefold.” /Star/
ECEVIT: “WE WILL NOT UNITE WITH THE CHP”
Speaking in Duzce yesterday at the kickoff to his party’s election campaign, Prime Minister and Democratic Left Party (DSP) Leader Bulent Ecevit said that the DSP had from the very beginning been opposed to early elections, adding that it would take no steps to form alliances with any other political party. In the latter regard, he reiterated that the DSP would not unite in any way with the Republican People’s Party (CHP). “This is an age-old business that we have no intention of getting involved in,” he said. /Sabah/
YTP LEADER CEM TO VISIT GERMANY
New Turkey Party (YTP) leader Ismail Cem and YTP Secretary-General Istemihan Talay are scheduled to travel to Germany tomorrow. Cem is due to meet with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Interior Minister Otto Schily, and former Foreign Minister Dietrich Genscher. In related news, foreign ministers from 15 European Union member countries are expected to visit Turkey in October in order to lend support for Cem’s November elections bid. Speaking to Hurriyet yesterday, Talay said that the foreign ministers knew Cem very well and so had decided to stand behind him. /Hurriyet/
DE SOTO TO VISIT CYPRUS, LAY GROUNDWORK FOR PARIS MEETING
United Nations Secretary-General Special Envoy for Cyprus Alvaro de Soto will reportedly travel to Cyprus to meet with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot administration leader Glafcos Clerides on Aug. 26. British Special Envoy for Cyprus David Hannay and US State Department Cyprus Coordinator Thomas Weston will also reportedly be there on the same date. During the meeting, de Soto will extend UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s invitation to hold a meeting in Paris on Sept. 6 and lay out Annan’s goals for the meeting. /Cumhuriyet/
BALANLI HANDS OVER AIR FORCE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP TO DINGILOGLU
Maj. Gen. Bilgin Balanli yesterday handed over his post as Air Force School commander to Maj. Gen. Sevket Dingiloglu in a ceremony at Istanbul’s Air Force Command. Thanking Balanli for his years of service, Dingiloglu said, “I consider it my duty to stand for the protection of honest, dignified life in Turkey from threats coming from both home and abroad. Equally we must protect the philosophy of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, an indivisible entity of democracy, language, and national culture.” After leaving the school, Balanli is set to take over as head of the Air Force Command’s Planning and Principles Department. /Star/
US STATE DEPARTMENT PUBLISHES ARCHIVES ON TURKEY, CYPRUS AND GREECE
The US State Department is publishing a selection from its official archives on Turkey, Cyprus and Greece in the critical 1964-68 period, the department announced this weekend. The 836-page volume will detail US foreign policy and initiatives in the region under then Secretary of State George Ball, as well as the US’ view of developments during these years. /Cumhuriyet/
BAN ON TURKEY-EU HORSE TRADE LIFTED
A ban on exporting and importing live horses between Turkey and the European Union has been lifted, the Agriculture Ministry announced this weekend. “Last year, the EU Permanent Veterinary Committee evaluated information sent by our ministry and acted to permit meat imports and exports to the EU from certain regions,” said an Agriculture Ministry statement. “After re-considering the matter, we lifted the live horse import-export ban between Turkey and the EU. The EU Permanent Veterinary Committee’s decision concerning the issue was published in the Official Gazette on Aug. 3 and went into effect on that date.” /Milliyet/
TURKEY’S EXPORT TO GREAT BRITAIN SEE BIGGEST BOOST
Turkey’s export to the Great Britain rose by $352 million in the period of this January-July to reach $1.57 billion so far this year, representing the largest single-country jump in exports in 2002. In other data released yesterday by the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), exports to the US over the same period jumped by $162 million, to Russia by $113.8 million and to Taiwan by $96.8 million. /Aksam/
ATATURK BIOGRAPHY PUBLISHED IN BULGARIA
Bulgarian author Ivan Vlaykov presented his new biography of Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, to the press this weekend. The biography, “Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: General of the Empire,” examines Ataturk’s life and personality in an effort to better acquaint Bulgarians with this eminent leader, said Vlaykov. While doing research for the book, Ataturk’s courage was inspiring, he added. /Cumhuriyet/
TURKISH MEDICAL DOCTOR NAMED “SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR”
Professor Metin Tulgar MD, head of the Biophysics Department at Gaziantep University’s Medical Faculty, has been named “Scientist of the Year” by the International Biography Center in Cambridge, England, the center announced this weekend. The honor marks Tulgar’s groundbreaking work in developing an artificial power source for brains, research which he has carried out for 15 years. /Turkiye/
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION