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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 April 2000 Issue No. 476 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 April 2000 Issue No. 476
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Summit Features Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Turkish turmoil
By Gareth JenkinsUnder the Turkish constitution, the president is elected by parliament for a single seven-year term. Last Wednesday a constitutional amendment to allow the president two terms in office received the backing of only 303 members of the 550 unicameral parliament, well short of the two thirds majority, or 367 votes, required.
Although a final vote on the amendment will not take place until next week, even its most ardent supporters now admit that there is little prospect of it being passed.
The rejection of the proposal has not only thrown the presidential race wide open but increased tensions within the 10 month-old tripartite coalition government. In the run-up to the vote, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit of the nationalist left Democratic Left Party (DSP) repeatedly insisted that an extension of Demirel's term in office was a prerequisite for continued domestic political stability. Both of the DSP's coalition partners, the ultra-nationalist National Movement Party (MHP) and the centre-right Motherland Party (ANAP), had publicly pledged their support for the amendment. But in last Wednesday's secret ballot most ANAP deputies voted to reject the amendment, apparently calculating that preventing Demirel's re-election would leave the way clear for party chairman Mesut Yilmaz to run for president.
But the move has infuriated DSP and MHP deputies. "It is a betrayal," said one MHP deputy. "But we have other options. We could form a minority government with the DSP or call early elections."
The prospect of deadlock in, or even the collapse of, what is already Turkey's eleventh government in less than ten years threw the financial markets into a panic. Share prices on the Istanbul Stock Exchange fell by seven per cent last Thursday and another one per cent the following day. The sense of gloom deepened later on Friday as the State Institute of Statistics announced that the Turkish economy had shrunk by 6.4 per cent in 1999, the largest annual contraction since 1945. In US dollar terms the economy contracted by 11.6 per cent, cutting per capita annual income from $3,224 to $2,878.
"Yes, of course, the killer earthquakes that hit our country's industrial heartland in the summer had a major role in this negative growth rate but still it also shows serious economic management and that Turkey has to properly reform its economic infrastructure," wrote Ilnur Cevik in the English language Turkish Daily News.
The growth figures also triggered an angry outburst from the Turkish business community, which was already irritated by the government's apparent preference for basking in future promises, particularly since the announcement of the country's EU candidacy in December 1999, rather than pushing through the measures needed to stimulate economic growth.
"A country hoping to join the premier league of nations has dropped to the third league," said Zafer Cagalayan, chairman of the Ankara Chamber of Industry. "The government should be concentrating on the economy rather than the presidential elections."
Public morale was further eroded over the weekend by fears of another upsurge in fighting in the south-east of the country. On Saturday approximately 6,000 Turkish troops backed by helicopter gunships crossed into northern Iraq to strike at camps belonging to the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Military sources said that the troops pushed ten kilometres into northern Iraq and had clashed with PKK militants.
The military insists that, despite last August's declaration of a unilateral cease-fire, the PKK has been continuing military training camps in mountains along Turkey's borders with Iraq and Iran. Last month the PKK's Presidential Council, which has been running the organisation since last year's capture and imprisonment of Abdullah Ocalan, warned that it would resume its armed struggle unless the Turkish authorities granted the country's 12 million Kurds greater cultural and political rights.
"Recently we have observed that many PKK groups have been moving towards the Turkish border. This is why the security forces launched the operation," said a Turkish military source.
The cross-border operation came at the same time as 10,000 Turkish troops began an extensive sweep of mountains in the province of Tunceli, where PKK militants have reportedly joined forces with leftist Turkish guerrillas. On Sunday another 50,000 Turkish troops were reported to be gathered on the Turkish-Iraqi border ready for a major offensive against PKK camps in northern Iraq.
