[PEN-L:29953] Turkey: A call for national leftists!..

[Sabri Oncu <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Should I laugh, cry or what?

Ecevit, when asked this question:

"Do you think the program prepared by Kemal Dervis and supported
by the IMF is national in content?"

replied like this:

"Programs prepared for the good of the nation are national in
content."

You should learn some Turkish to watch the comedy going on there
more closely. Except that it is so ugly that I am not sure
whether you will be able to laugh.

However, it is important to note that the word "left" is back in
the daily vocabulary and I see this as a major accomplishment.

Sabri

++++++++++++

Ecevit calls for unity on left

Turkey?s Prime Minister Ecevit called for all of the parties of
the left in the country to unite ahead of the November 3
elections.

Ankara, NTVMSNBC & NEWS WIRES

August 28?  Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit urged Turkish leftists
to rally around him on Wednesday, but his appeal was laced with
the bitterness dividing mainstream parties that may deliver power
to a party accused of Islamist leanings. The veteran prime
minister, his Democratic Left Party (DSP) reeling from the
defection of half its members, made clear his call did not apply
to all.

"Dubious leftists", he said, had no place in an alliance for
November 3 polls. Ecevit?s Foreign Minister Ismail Cem deserted
him at the height of a government crisis this summer and founded
the New Turkey Party.

Kemal Dervis, a former World Banker brought back to Turkey by
Ecevit in 2001 to deal with a devastating financial crisis,
resigned as economy minister and joined his fate to Ecevit?s
archrivals in the Republican People?s Party (CHP). "This is not a
call for all those on the left," Ecevit said, adding his
invitation applied to those on the "democratic left".

Ideological differences between the various parties on the left
and centre-left in Turkey are often hard to spot. The defining
element of most parties is traditionally the leader. Ecevit, 77,
identified none of his rivals by name.

CONSPIRACY ABOUT DSP

He talked of "certain circles" conspiring to bring down the DSP
and his government. "I am calling all national leftists and those
who have arrived at an understanding of the democratic left to
unite under the DSP," Ecevit said in a carefully worded
statement.

Markets fear that many of the mainstream parties may fail to
reach the 10 percent threshold need to win seats in parliament at
the November 3 election, which was called early after Ecevit fell
ill and his three-party coalition stumbled over Turkey?s EU
ambitions.

Ecevit also said he thought it would be difficult in practical
terms for the election to be delayed. Rumours abound in Ankara
that parties fearing electoral defeat may conspire to put off the
polls. He said elections were now "inescapable".

Ecevit, five times prime minister in a career spanning five
decades, predicted his party would come first in the elections ?
an outcome that would confound opinion polls which give the DSP
little chance of reaching 10 percent.