Ecevit Calls On All National Leftists To Unite Under D.S.P.

ANKARA - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that people who defined themselves as social democrats always failed to unite and he called on Wednesday ''all national leftists who have arrived at an understanding of the democratic left to unite under the Democratic Left Party (DSP).''
Claiming that many politicians are moving between two extreme points, Ecevit said ''Those who were insisting on holding early elections only a few weeks before are now looking for a way to avoid elections. There's a big uncertainty in the left. People who were deceived by intrigues to split up the DSP found themselves in an emptiness. They found themselves without a compass in the parties they joined.''
Stating that the DSP continues to stand strongly, the prime minister said that half of the DSP deputies fell into these traps, rightist parties started fighting with each other which led political groups who abuse people's religious feelings and separatists enjoy freedom in the Turkish political scene.
''We have been warning them for months,'' he went on to say. ''But no one other than the DSP listened to our warnings. Now, those who ignored our warnings are in a panic. Now they started having nightmares about the elections and they expect help from the DSP. They want us to unite the left. Those who define themselves as social democrats have been divided among themselves. First they founded the People's Party, then the SODEP, then the SHP and the CHP. Then they cooperated with the separatists. Even now, there are people who flirt with separatists. Again these people who call themselves social democrats had nine leaders in 19 years. The DSP, on the other hand, has been consistent and following the same line since its foundation.''
Ecevit said that the democratic left movement has its roots in 1960s and added that democratic workers' rights were born in the same decade from this movement. ''The democratic left movement preserves its strength and consistency since then,'' he asserted.
ECEVIT: THOSE WHO DEFINE THEMSELVES AS SOCIAL DEMOCRATS HAVE NEVER MANAGED TO UNITE
''Turkey's forty year old diseases started to be treated under the DSP's leadership,'' Ecevit said. ''The EU opened its door to Turkey, secularism became stronger and separatist terrorism suffered a big blow in this period. We've fought corruption and laid the foundation for a strong democracy and economy. The villages started developing also in this period. Parliament started working more efficiently and faster. I am calling all national leftists and those who have arrived at an understanding of the democratic left to unite under the DSP.''
The DSP leader stated that his party is trusted by all political parties and remarked that during the previous elections, all other parties which failed to reach an agreement among themselves decided that the DSP's minority government should come to power.
''The DSP has proved that it deserves the trust of the whole nation. I'm calling on everyone who want to work for Turkey's welfare to join their strengths in this party,'' Ecevit said.
ECEVIT: OUR DOOR IS OPEN ONLY TO THOSE WHO ARRIVED AT AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE DEMOCRATIC LEFT
Ecevit said that his call was not for all leftists but only to those who arrived to an understanding about the leftist thinking.
Ecevit answered reporters' questions during a press conference on Wednesday.
Question: You shut the door to certain groups. Can you name the parties you're targeting?
Ecevit: My door is always open to people who arrived to an understanding about the leftist thinking. It has always been open. But there are people who present themselves as leftists and interpret leftism very differently. We don't have to open our door to these people. As I earlier stated, leftists outside the DSP are divided. How can we work together with people who cannot unite. Furthermore, some of these people tried to divide the DSP and tried to establish another party.
Question: You stated that the foundations of a strong economy was established in your government's time. You invited Kemal Dervis to help you and now he joined another party. Will you stand behind the economic program?
Ecevit: We are already supporting the economic program after Dervis's resignation. Dervis is an economist who has worked closely with the IMF and the World Bank. We wanted to benefit from his experience. But now the necessary preparations have been made and we don't need help from outside to continue the economic program. Masum who replaced Dervis is acting very wisely. I have no worries. We'll improve the program as our economy develops but there's no need for that at the moment.
Question: The leaders of the three coalition parties haven't had a meeting for a long time. The Felicity Party (SP) presented a censure motion on July 19 and later this was withdrawn. There were scenarios to topple the government. Now there are scenarios to postpone the elections. Are you going to meet with the leaders? What kind of a role do you think the Motherland Party (ANAP) had in these scenarios?
Ecevit: As the leaders of the three parties which constitute the coalition, we hold meetings when necessary. Remember that Council of Ministers could not convene for months during the period of the previous government. Now that Council of Ministers convene regularly every week. We meet the leaders when necessary. Anyway, we have offices in the same building. We don't have any problem with ANAP within the government.
Question: You speak about uniting national left, then you want the left to come together.
Ecevit: I did not say every left. I spoke about unity of those who have arrived at an understanding of the democratic left.
Question: You said you want unity of those who have arrived at an understanding of the democratic left. Do you think it is right to hold this meeting in prime ministry?
Ecevit: It is natural that I make necessary statements pertaining to the performance of the 57th government. DSP is ruling the current government. To this end, holding this meeting in government building is not abnormal.
Question: Does this call has a special meaning when there are two months for elections?
Ecevit: I did not make this call to whole left. Our doors are always open to those who arrived at an understanding of the democratic left, and who adopted the philosophy consciously. I thought it will be right to reiterate and remind this at this stage.
Question: How do you evaluate the idea of postponement of elections. Is it true to postpone the elections?
Ecevit: At the beginning, we wanted postponement of election. All other parties said early elections had to take place. However, not much time passed, but there is almost nobody speaking about this. There are ideas to postpone the elections. DSP is the only party acting stable in this respect. We have never wanted early elections because there are things that should be done for Turkey. Nearly 380 laws have been issued during the period of this government. Most of them have reformist quality. We had to implement them and convey all those to the public. All those are not only our right, but also a duty. There is nothing strange about them.''
We don't take into consideration the whole left because there are those in the left who don't have connection with the left. For example secretary general of the party which was founded by those who separated from us made a statement a while ago and said ''we are not leftists''. Leader of the same party had said ''I think we are leftist''. How can you come together and provide unity in the left with those who broke his ties from the left. It is very difficult to think of this. There have always been institutions adopting a different understanding of the left. It is not in question for us to unite with them. We are very careful about determination and consistency. We are faithful to our principle. To this end, it is natural to state this framework while making this call.
Question: If an effort to postpone elections is brought to parliamentary agenda, will you support it as the DSP?
Ecevit: We think that it was too late to make such an effort. There is not much time left for elections. Every dimension and phase of election process required by the laws have been started to be implemented one after another. I don't consider it likely for this issue to come onto parliamentary agenda.
Question: You have said that you don't make this call for all leftist circles but only for those who believe in democratic left. As far as we understood from these words that the CHP is not interlocutor of this call. You have said that the YTP is actually not a leftist party and it is not an interlocutor of this call, too. Who will you expect to join the DSP after this call?
Ecevit: I think that there are many people who have arrived at an understanding of the democratic left. However, an intense campaign has been launched against the DSP and me in recent months. This campaign has naturally affected some people and circles to some extent. I mean that those who are loyal to the DSP, that is, those who have arrived at an understanding of the democratic left have adopted the intention to grow distant from this party. Because, it has been claimed that the DSP collapsed, Ecevit is ill and can never recover. These rumors might have negatively affected people who have arrived at an understanding of the democratic left, of course. We do still stand on our feet. Our determination and consistency still continue and this party effectively represents the national left. We felt the necessity to call people attention to these. In this way I believe that those who have arrived at an understanding of the democratic left will no more be deceived by these tricks and intrigues. I believe that these people would display their loyalty to the DSP as long as they see that the DSP still stands on its two feet and carries out the election campaign effectively.
Question: Where will you hold your first public meeting?
Ecevit: We will hold election meetings in every part of Turkey. We will have a meeting in Tekirdag this Thursday. Later, we will hold a meeting in southeast. During this election campaign, we will continue spreading the DSP's thinking which is well known regarding not only national left but also formation of a just order. With this objective, we are determined to carry out a productive work.
Question: From your words, it is understood that your call is for persons instead of institutions. Does your call also cover the deputies who resigned from your party?
Ecevit: I can't give a general answer to this question. As you have said, we are not making an institutional call. It is clear that those who left the DSP and attempted to form a new party are in limbo. They found themselves in a different situation not only institutionally, but also ideologically. So I can't say that we accept return of such people to our party. Our door is naturally open to those who consciously have arrived at an understanding of the democratic left and attribute importance to national left.
ECEVIT: EARLY ELECTIONS HAVE BECOME UNAVOIDABLE
''I remember that the DSP was shown as the weakest party in all public surveys in the beginning, but the situation changes after the election campaign starts. The previous elections showed that the DSP always got more votes than the polls showed. I believe the DSP would emerge as the first party despite this blackening campaign against it.
Ecevit also indicated that his call was not meant for the deputies who were called ''the nines'' in the DSP and who recently resigned from the party. ''They have their own views and they continue their attitude. I never found ''the nine'' movement correct in principle and I told him that. This is a faction movement. One of our friends quit the nines and he stayed in the DSP.
When asked to define the ''national left'', Ecevit said ''I find it surprising that this term is not understood. Because every nation has to protect its own rights. Every nation needs a national policy according to its national interests. What I don't understand is that some Turkish intellectuals think of nationalism and leftism as two separate things. In Western Europe, all social democrat leftist parties are at the same time nationalists. Being a nationalist is not something to be ashamed of. Nationalism is a natural outcome of protecting your country. What we understand from national left is to protect the Turkish Republic's unity and rights. Leftism does not oppose to this.''
He said, ''there are differences from the European left stemming from historical incidents. To this end, it is natural for us to stress some of our qualities. Those who think that national quality and left could not reconcile, deceive themselves. They will see that the left has national qualities if they look at a western democracy.''
When asked ''villagers and workers suffered for 3,5 years. With which propaganda you will get votes?'' Ecevit said, ''we have earlier said we did not find right to hold elections before April 2004. We could not necessarily show the results of the reforms we had initiated. We needed time for this. We had to stay in power for some time more we realize this. We had to convey the people the things we had made and the benefits of them. However, I rely on the common sense of our people. We had to convey what we have done to the public but I don't know why the coalition partners gave up this. Then, the other parties began to say they want early elections.
Noting that such a situation had been observed also in the past, Ecevit said that only the DSP adopted a stable attitude toward early elections issue.
Stressing that the DSP was still the only party that was saying, ''we don't want early elections,'' Ecevit said, ''what I don't understand is that some people say 'also we want early elections' due to pressure of the media and some parties. Why don't they make a realistic evaluation of this issue? Why have all these parties started to say that they don't want early elections? Asking for early elections is not a shameful thing. This doesn't prove that parties are powerful or weak. We are still consistent. Early elections became inevitable. So it is not necessary to focus on this issue more.
Ecevit continued, ''unfortunately, Mr. Kemal Dervis was one of the leading names who initiated early election campaign. He suddenly started to say 'early elections'. However, he knew that we needed time to implement and advance the economic programme he developed. Despite this, I still can't understand why he made such a statement.
ECEVIT: ANY PROGRAM THAT IS DEVELOPED FOR THE WELFARE OF A NATION IS A NATIONAL PROGRAM
Ecevit said that they would try to help the civil servants as much as the economy allowed.
When asked if he would quit politics if he is not satisfied by election results, Ecevit said it wouldn't be right to focus on this possibility during an election campaign.
He said he would try his best for his party to get the highest number of votes, Ecevit said he trusted people's support on this.
The prime minister also indicated that every economic program which is developed for the welfare of a nation, is a national program.
''Some intellectual circles in Turkey cannot understand that nationalism and leftism in fact complement each other. I don't know any other country in the world which regard nationalism and leftism as two conflicting concepts,'' he commented.
A reporter said to Ecevit ''In your statement, you pronounced the term 'just order' which is a slogan you used in 1970s. For long years, the politicians whom you accuse of abusing people's religious feelings gained supporters using this slogan. Are you addressing to people of low income? Is this also included in the national left?''
''Of course,'' Ecevit stressed.
Noting that they had started to do many things about this issue, Ecevit said that despite very serious economic conditions, they had taken some concrete measures and made arrangements for the people who face economic difficulties.
Explaining the works carried out on this issue by the 57th government, Ecevit said that they had put into practice many measures that protect workers, villagers, civil servants and retired people even in crisis period.
When asked whether or not wages of civil servants would be increased in September, Ecevit recalled that works on this issues had just started.
''We well help the civil servants as much as our economic opportunities allow,'' he said.
Responding a question that said, ''Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal went to the United States and U.S. Vice President made a very harsh statement about Iraq yesterday. Has a specific point been reached about Iraq?'' Ecevit said,
''I am not sure that we have come to a specific point. Bush administration has determination and discloses to take military precautions against Northern Iraq. However, there are those within the same administration who think differently. There are different ideas in the Congress. They claim that such a military operation could even give important damages to the United States in economic means. In every opportunity we say to our friendly U.S. administration that we are against military operation,'' Ecevit said.
He said, ''we have close ties with friendly United States. Our diplomats and other administrators often have reciprocal visits. It is natural that we exchange information and views with the United States administration when news reports are underway about Iraq. Mr. Ziyal will certainly discuss this issue. At the same time, there is possibility for some developments in economic relations with the United States, all those will be taken up. Also, there is Turkish military unit in Afghanistan. We hear that there are some ideas in the United States to extend the mandate of the Turkish unit after six-months period expires. Turkey had undertaken a very important assignment there with respect to security. Turkey had taken this assignment for six months, but now that they are considering to extend it for another six months.''