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Baykal focuses on prospect of early elections in 2010
“At a point where the Justice and Development Party's [AK Party] power will end, it will be inevitable for Turkey to enter a period of elections after the completion of this legislative year. There is no doubt that Turkey will face more troubles in 2010,” noted Baykal during his party's parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday.
Turkey's next parliamentary election is set for 2011, but political parties have lately started to hint that they may head for early elections to ease political tension in the country. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan implied on Saturday that his AK Party may call early elections if he fails to receive the support of other political parties for a planned democratization package.
The CHP leader directed harsh accusations at the prime minister for his policies in the economic field. “The unemployment rate is not 13 percent, as the prime minister claims. It is 16 percent. Nearly 250,000 agricultural workers lost their jobs last year. Around 1 million people became unemployed. The government ignores agricultural workers. The recent increase in pensions is far from fair. Salaries given to public servants are at a ridiculous level. Unemployment and [other] economic problems should be taken into consideration immediately,” he said.
Baykal also criticized the AK Party's bid to join the European Union, adding that the government had made concessions on the Cyprus issue for membership in the union.
“What happens now? Will we join the EU? The process is at a deadlock. They approved the Annan plan to join the union. What point are we at in the Cyprus issue? We approved the Annan plan, but the Greek Cypriots did not. We are still not an EU member, but Greek Cypriots joined the union long ago,” he noted.
The CHP leader also touched on an expected “letter diplomacy” between his party and the AK Party for a meeting between the leaders of the two parties to discuss the government's plans to solve the Kurdish question through peaceful methods. “I will provide more details if I receive the prime minister's letter. I have nothing at hand now,” he said.
Erdoğan said he plans to send a letter to the CHP leader to set up a meeting to discuss the government's democratic initiative. CHP officials said they will revise their position toward the initiative if the letter includes concrete details on the content of the package. The CHP has so far remained skeptical about the initiative, with its officials expressing concern that the AK Party has embarked on this project in response to "pressure from foreign countries," particularly the United States.
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