TDN on Ciller and new government

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 22 SEPTEMBER 1995

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Demirel reassigns Ciller to form new government

Turkish Daily News
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ANKARA- Moving rapidly to ward off a threatened political crisis, President
Suleyman Demirel on Thursday assigned Tansu Ciller to form the country's new
government a day after she ended a four-year coalition partnership with the
social democrats.

The move which took Turkish political establishment by surprise, came Thursday
evening after Demirel returned from a trip to Eastern Turkey.

A brief statement issued from the Prime Minister's office after Ciller's
meeting with Demirel said she would start the preparations to form the new
government on Friday after meeting with the officials of her True Path Party
(DYP).

A senior source from the main opposition Motherland Party (ANAP) said Ciller
had phoned party leader Mesut Yilmaz and sought an appointment for Friday,
cancelling a planned visit to the southern town of Isparta along with the
President. The source said senior aides of the two leaders would be present in
the meeting.

Shortly before her reassignment, Ciller addressed the nation on television and
reaffirmed her opposition to an early election because the country's economy
would not be able to survive spending on electioneering.

But Yilmaz made clear he would not budge from his defense of an early poll.

In an immediate reaction to Ciller's reassignment, Yilmaz said it conformed to
the democratic traditions, but it would be wrong for Ciller to give priority to
forming a minority government to avoid early elections.

Yilmaz said Ciller should try forming a government which could secure the
mandatory vote of confidence from the Parliament instead of a minority
government which stands no such chance. He said he shared the views of outgoing
Parliament Speaker Husamettin Cindoruk that what the country needed was a
caretaker government to prepare for early elections.

Yilmaz, in the past has repeatedly said he was open to a coalition partnership
with Ciller's DYP or back a minority government in return for explicit
guarantees for an early election.

Cindoruk, a close associate of President Demirel and a critic of Ciller
although he is a member of the DYP, has been advocating a broadly based
"government of reconciliation" which would take in all the major parties and
work only to attend to key legislation before scheduling early general
elections. Next elections are normally due in October 1996 and Ciller, with
over a year left to go, have been resisting pressures from the opposition and
government partners for a premature contest. Eager to revive her party's
declining popularity by taking Turkey into a profitable customs pact with the
European Union later this year, Ciller tried hard to keep the coalition with
the social democrat junior partners going.

But after Deniz Baykal, the newly-elected leader of the Republican People's
Party (CHP) declared the coalition effectively finished on Wednesday following
a disagreement on new terms to extend the partnership, Ciller announced the
government's resignation.

Political analysts say Ciller may draw the ultra-right Nationalist Movement
Party and a constellation of other fringe parties and independents in the
450-seat parliament into supporting a minority government. But they say such a
government, allowing opportunistic small partners to blackmail Ciller, would
not secure Ciller the desired results.

At present, Ciller's DYP commands 182 seats in the Parliament, followed by ANAP
which has 96. The CHP has 65, the Islamist Welfare Party, 38. MHP has 17,
Democratic Left Party has 10, Grand Turkey Party, another ultra-right outfit,
has 7, the New Party led by late President Turgut Ozal's brother has three and
a liberal New Democracy Movement has two seats. There are six independents and
22 vacant seats in the legislature. Sources close to Ciller said she would feel
ready for elections by next May.

Other parties which call for elections say the poll should be held in March at
the latest if it proves impossible to schedule the contest for mid-December.

Cindoruk who is getting set to resign as Parliament speaker to increase
pressures on Ciller for early elections, strongly objects to a minority DYP
government with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) support. He is also very much
against the ethically improper recruitment of deputies from other parties, a
formula Ciller may resort to in order to keep her office. "A government formed
with recruited deputies will inevitably be short-lived," he said.

Cindoruk has said in the past he will resign as Parliament speaker when the
house returns from its summer recess at the start of October unless an early
elections decision is taken. The Parliament speaker on Thursday said there was
no government crisis at this point, but "we can call this the beginning of the
crisis," adding he believed the crisis will be evaded when a date for early
election is announced. Cindoruk said he did not want to respond to Ciller's
statement about a "solution government" rather than an "election government"
(one that will hold early elections) but reiterated that an early election will
be the best answer and suggested December this year as the best time for it.

Cindoruk in a television program also noted he would not run away from duty "as
a politician who is playing in the finals" if he is called to duty for the sake
of the country's and the people's interests.

But he said he hoped the crisis would be resolved without the need for him to
interfere.

Sources close to Ciller, on the other hand, say the prime minister will play
all her cards, even announcing an early election for May 1996, to form a
minority government. Ciller reportedly wanted to speak with Yilmaz as soon as
the coalition collapsed.

Minority government

Ciller's minority government formula calls for 182 DYP, 17 MHP, three New Party
(YP) and some independent deputies, is not considered to be realistic.

DYP and ANAP officials said that Ciller expected Yilmaz's support on the
condition that early elections are held in May 1996.

Yilmaz is believed to want an "election government," which will hold early
elections in December 1995 or March 1996. Yilmaz had said that his party would
support such a government and it would be ready to form a minority government
for this purpose, if necessary.

Yilmaz is also reportedly against any government formula which includes Ciller.

Deniz Baykal also considers early elections a must. Baykal, who is planning to
enter the elections as an opposition party, is trying to exclude his party from
the new government formulas.

The CHP members who are close to Baykal said that he would not take any
responsibility in the new government.

Cindoruk, considers the preparation of a new electoral law as the first
priority.

Cindoruk proposes to form an election government, which has a wide base.

The Parliament speaker is against weak minority government models and thinks
that it is compulsory to form a DYP-CHP-ANAP government under his prime
ministry to overcome the current crisis.

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