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Former
Turkish Minister Challenges Ecevit, Founds New Party
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Cem,
62, was one of the longest serving foreign ministers in Turkish
history until he quit both his post and the DSP on July 11
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ANKARA,
July 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Turkey’s former
foreign minister Ismail Cem and his political allies on Monday, July
22, officially founded a new pro-European Union political party
bringing together scores of legislators who have abandoned ailing
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, the Anatolia news agency
reported.
Twelve
MPs from the new grouping submitted to the interior ministry a formal
petition registering the New Turkey Party, which is expected to be a
social democratic and eurocentric grouping, the report said.
The
party has the support of 63 MPs who have resigned from Ecevit’s
Democratic Left Party (DSP) in the past two weeks due to the prime
minister’s refusal to step down despite his failing health and
political turmoil in the country, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Cem,
62, was one of the longest serving foreign ministers in Turkish
history until he quit both his post and the DSP on July 11.
He
has allied himself with Ecevit’s former right-hand man, Husametin
Ozkan, and Economy Minister Kemal Dervis, who is an independent, to
set up the new party.
Turkey
has sunk into political chaos since Ecevit, 77, fell ill in early May
2002 and became confined to either the hospital or his home while he
recovered from a variety of ailments.
The
turmoil has revealed deep divisions within his three-party coalition
on key democracy reforms required under Turkey’s bid to join the
European Union, an issue which dominates political debate in the
country.
Meanwhile,
another MP abandoned Ecevit’s DSP on Monday, ahead of an
extraordinary session of parliament called to discuss planned early
elections.
The
latest resignation brings the total number of defectors over the past
two weeks to 64, leaving the three-party coalition with just 270 of
the 550 seats in the legislature.
Ecevit’s
DSP, once the biggest party in parliament with 128 seats, suffered a
mass rebellion over the 77-year-old veteran leader’s refusal to
resign and an internal coalition dispute over E.U.-sought democracy
reforms.
Ecevit’s
far-right coalition partner, the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), is
now the largest group in parliament with 127 seats, while the junior
partner, the center-right Motherland Party (ANAP), has 79 seats
Last
week, Ecevit finally bowed to pressure and called early elections for
November 3, although he said at the weekend that he would still prefer
to hold polls at their scheduled time in April 2004.
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