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Turkey's Cem Announces New Party, Ecevit Holds onto Power
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Ismail Cem declared the formation of a new
party
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ANKARA,
July 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Directly challenged from
his former Foreign Minister who announced a new party, Turkey's ailing
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Friday he will remain heading his
tattered coalition and again rejected calls for early elections.
A day after resigning from his post, Ismail Cem held a news conference
announcing the formation of the new party along with two other
political heavyweights; Ecevit's former deputy Husamettin Ozkan and
Economy Minister Kemal Dervis.
"The
government has become a structure unable to take the steps that Turkey
needs and produce compromise and solution," Cem, 62, said,
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"We
are forming our new party in a bid to embrace all of Turkey in a
renewal," he said.
For
his part, 77-year-old Ecevit, away from his office since May due to a
string of health problems, dismissed Cem's party as "nothing
serious" and said that he had no immediate plans to quit either
the government or his Democratic Left Party (DSP).
"I
am at the helm... I have to stay," he said despite a wave of
resignations from members of his party.
"If
the three coalition parties shut themselves off to internal and
external provocations, we can and must continue until the end of our
mandate" in 2004, Ecevit added.
However,
he also admitted that he may consider quitting if the three-party
coalition loses a majority in parliament as a result of the
resignations, which would leave it vulnerable to censure motions.
The
DSP was hit by fresh resignations Friday, bringing to 43 the number of
defectors, including seven Ministers, who quit in protest at Ecevit's
refusal to step down.
Ecevit
said Friday he named Sukru Sina Gurel, a hawkish Eurosceptic, as
Foreign Minister, amid increasing tensions over Turkey's floundering
bid to join the European Union.
Ecevit
made the announcement in an interview with NTV news channel following
the resignation Thursday of Gurel's predecessor, Cem, a staunch
pro-European with high international credibility.
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Kemal Dervis |
The
52-year-old Gurel, a professor of international relations, will also
hold the post of Deputy Prime Minister, which he assumed earlier this
week to replace another major defector from Ecevit's cabinet, Ozkan.
The
departure of the popular Cem, one of Ankara's keenest advocates of EU
membership, dismayed some countries in the 15-nation bloc, with one EU
diplomat in Ankara saying the news had brought him close to tears,
according to AFP.
Ankara
wants the EU to agree to start membership talks by the year-end and
fears that if it misses its target it will be entirely left out of the
EU's current wave of enlargement.
Ecevit
sought to play down Gurel's open hostility to the EU and the related
issue of the division of Cyprus, a long-standing problem between
Turkey and EU member Greece.
"He
definitely wants Turkey to join the EU... His opinions could be
different (from Cem's) only in nuance," Ecevit said.
"I
do not expect him to seriously oppose Turkey's policy towards the EU.
On some issues he might resist and might be right in his resistance
but I do not think this will go as far as closing the EU doors to
us," Ecevit said.
The
DSP party now, meanwhile, fell one seat behind the main opposition
True Path Party (DYP), but the government still has 291 seats in the
550-seat parliament.
Ecevit
also told NTV that he opposed bringing elections forward from 2004
because it would distract Turkey's leadership at a time when it is
focused on overcoming a deep economic crisis and a deadlock over key
reforms required under Turkey's bid to join the EU.
However,
the Prime Minister's coalition partners already sided with the
opposition in their calls for snap polls, with the MHP launching
parliamentary procedures for elections in November.
"I
want (MHP leader Devlet) Bahceli to give up his early election
project," Ecevit said.
For
his part, Bahceli appeared unyielding. "We believe elections must
be brought forward for stability in Turkey," he was quoted by the
Anatolia news agency as saying.
Despite
the immense pressure and his absence from office, Ecevit desperately
tried to keep the government running and named new ministers to vacant
posts.
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