ANKARA - Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said on Tuesday that the parliament had fulfilled a historical mission with the decision it had taken on last Saturday on Prime Ministry motion, adding, ''the parliament corrected the mistake. Everybody, the parliament, the government, public opinion and media should stand behind this decision.''
Stressing that the parliament's historical decision on last Saturday was not surprising because it was reflection of 90 percent of Turkish people's clear position against any war, Baykal said, ''any democratic parliament cannot ignore such a reaction. Turkey's will appears in the parliament. With this decision, Turkey has opened a new page. Now, the parliament and everybody should stand behind this decision.''
''Actually, the wrong thing was not the decision taken on last Saturday, but the things that were done since December until last Saturday were the wrong thing. However, it would be a more serious mistake if second motion is presented to the parliament. If such a thing is done, then it causes serious damage to Turkey,'' he said.
''Nobody should confuse the parliament with second motion. Nobody has the right to play with the honorable record of the parliament. The global respect to our parliament should not be disappointed with second motion,'' Baykal said.
Stressing that Turkey had been living in peace with its neighbors for thousands of years and would continue to do so for thousands of years more, Baykal said, ''nobody has the right to set us fighting with our neighbors. Only the peoples living in this geography can share the riches of this geography.''
(MS-AÖ) 04.03.2003