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Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 28 January 1999 Issue No. 413 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 28 January 1999 Issue No. 413
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Focus Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Ecevit -- good news for Baghdad?
By Amberin ZamanShortly after his minority government won a confidence vote in the Turkish parliament on Sunday, leftist leader Bulent Ecevit vowed to defend Turkey's pro-secular tradition and to lead the country peacefully through to parliamentary elections scheduled for April. Widely viewed as a lame duck premier, Ecevit, 73, has made no pretence of seeking to solve Turkey's mounting economic problems or to undertake urgently needed judicial and structural reforms during his brief term in office.
Even so, Turkey's Western allies and the United States in particular will be watching the new Turkish premier very closely as the likelihood of a fresh military confrontation between Washington and Baghdad continues to grow.
Ecevit's traditionally pro-Saddam stance has deeply irritated Washington. The former poet and journalist has long lobbied for the easing of sanctions on Iraq and for the reversion of Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq to Baghdad. But last week Ecevit signalled that relations with Baghdad were cooling off, saying that neither Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan, nor Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz had responded to recent invitations from the Turkish government. Iraq's alleged decision to provide sanctuary for the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is cited among the reasons for Ecevit's change of heart.
Turkey was left rudderless after its former centre-right prime minister, Mesut Yilmaz, was dismissed in a parliamentary no-confidence vote last November amid corruption charges. Yalim Erez, an independent MP, was asked by President Suleiman Demirel to try to stitch together a broad-based coalition from Turkey's fractious parliament after Ecevit, leader of the Democratic Left Party, was initially invited to form a government but failed to do so.
But just as Erez, a businessman-turned-politician from the mainly Kurdish province of Van, was putting the finishing touches to his cabinet in stepped Tansu Ciller, the lady who leads the conservative True Path Party from which Erez had earlier defected, to foil his plans. Ciller announced that she would after all back Ecevit's earlier attempt to form a minority coalition, provided that he did not seek to postpone the elections scheduled for April.
Yilmaz, who shared Ciller's fears that Erez might unite their respective parties under his own leadership, said that he too would back Ecevit.
Ecevit became prime minister for the first time in 1973 and shot to international prominence after ordering Turkish troops into Cyprus in 1974.
The hawkish Ecevit, continues to be viewed by Western governments as a major obstacle to solving the Cyprus problem. Even so, Western diplomats in Turkey joined the collective sigh of relief in Ankara following the news that Erez would not lead the country after all.
Widespread allegations that members of Erez's family were involved in heroin trafficking and that he intended to put off elections once in power had raised deep concerns both at home and abroad. There were fears that Turkey's fragile democracy might suffer under his leadership. The president's choice of Erez apparently stemmed from his belief that he would be able to easily influence the aspiring premier.
Ciller's Byzantine manoeuvering has humbled even her harshest critics, who had written her off after her ill-fated coalition with the Islamists in 1997 only to be squeezed out of power by the generals a year later. Her about face has also raised hopes that she might be open to a power sharing deal with her arch enemy Yilmaz after the elections, which remains the most likely way of keeping the Islamists out of power.
Until then, Ecevit's leadership will be welcomed by Turkey's powerful military establishment. Ecevit is one of the few Turkish politicians whose reputation remains untainted by corruption charges. More crucially from the rigidly pro-secular military vantage point, Ecevit has consistently refused to deal with the Islamists, who remain the generals' chief enemy along with the Kurdish separatists.
