Turkey's

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

(c) 1995 Copyright The News and Observer Publishing Co.
(c) 1995 Reuter Information Service

ANKARA, Turkey (Sep 21, 1995 - 12:30 EDT) - The fall of Turkey's "odd-couple"
coalition was a long time coming, but its roots lay in the move of its founder,
Suleyman Demirel, from the prime minister's office to presidency more than two
years ago, analysts said on Thursday.

"Their problems began when Demirel left government for the presidency,"
political analyst Altan Oymen told Reuters.

Demirel, who had formed the coalition in November 1991 with then social
democrat leader Erdal Inonu, became president in May 1993 after the death of
incumbent Turgut Ozal.

Tansu Ciller, Turkey's first woman premier, was elected the next month to head
the coalition between her True Path Party (DYP) and the Social Democrat
Populist Party, which later merged with and took the name of the Republican
People's Party (CHP).

The left-right coalition that ended with Ciller's resignation on Wednesday
night was Turkey's longest -- many analysts say only because other party
combinations were even less viable.

The final split came with the election of the self-confident Deniz Baykal as
CHP leader 10 days ago. The CHP wanted him to shake off its hapless image in
Ciller's domineering shadow.

Baykal had based his leadership campaign on a tougher line on democracy and
rights issues, and -- unlike his predecessors -- refused to budge in
Wednesday's first talks with Ciller.

"(The coalition) cracked long ago. At least Demirel and Inonu got on, and
managed to agree on many points. With Ciller, disagreements started. It finally
cracked when the CHP chose a new leader promising a policy with more
character," Oymen said.

Demirel, three decades in Turkish politics and a survivor of two army coups,
was a pragmatist concerned with stability.

But under the ambitious Ciller, the coalition tripped from crisis to crisis
over Turkey's efforts to deepen democracy, an 11-year Kurdish insurgency,
economic policy and Ciller's pet privatisation plans, which mainly social
democrat ministers have twice had overturned in the constitutional court.

The SHP-CHP wing changed leaders three times this year, and over half its 65
members took turns in ministerial posts, in a bid to find a match for Ciller's
abrasive leadership.

"Each time a new party boss came to office, saying he would not make any
concessions from his left wing principles, in the end he made a U-turn
and...Ciller got what she wanted," said Ilnur Cevik in an editorial in the
English-language Turkish Daily News.

Ciller said it was CHP demands that the hardline police chief of Istanbul,
Necdet Menzir, be sacked that proved fatal.

"The actual issue is the importance we accord to terror (of the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK)," she said later.

In comments seen as affirming Ankara's tough, military policy on the PKK's
separatist fight, Menzir last June attacked Turkey's human rights minister --
from the CHP wing -- who had talked of the country's poor rights record while
abroad.

Analysts then said Menzir would not have acted without backing from the
military and security forces, many with ties to the DYP.

As well as the Menzir affair, the CHP has been frustrated on a key demand to
scrap Article 8 of the anti-terror law, which its critics see as a gross
violation of the freedom of expression. In July it found changes to make the
1982 military-era constitution more democratic well short of expectations.

Ciller, trying to tame inflexible, pro-Demirel conservatives in parliament and
the DYP, has based her political image on tough talk about the PKK and the
economy, which she vows to "sort out."

Back-tracking on issues of domestic security for CHP-friendly coalition deal
with Baykal is something she could ill afford to do, even amid her struggle to
come up with rights improvements demanded by the European Union ahead of a
customs union deal.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turkish prime minister resigns

ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller resigned Wednesday
in the wake of one of the biggest labor walkouts in Turkey's history. More than
160,000 state employees had gone on strike.

However, Ms. Ciller will remain a prominent figure in Turkey's politics. A
spokesman for Ms. Ciller said that she has asked to stay on as caretaker until
a new government can replace her coalition. Her present coalition had drawn
support from both the center and the left of the political spectrum.

---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)