Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Battle shaping on two fronts
by Ilnur Cevik ilnur.cevik@tdn1.com
Posted: Sunday, December 03, 2000 01:56 am CST

Serious structural changes in the economy and political reform are at the heart of the struggle in Turkey

The current economic crisis which the government was too sluggish to react to has shown that besides the struggle between those who want political and social reform in Turkey there is also a tough struggle between those who want to maintain the current plunder system which is open to speculation and those who want deep-rooted structural changes in the economy which will emphasize an increase in real production.

It was clear for some time that there was a silent ongoing war between those who feel Turkey should start meaningful political reforms and transform its semi-democratic system into a genuine parliamentary democracy and those who don't. This meant legislation of judicial and political reforms. It also means the implementation of these reforms.

Yet, we see serious resistance to this. The head of the intelligence agency, with the blessing of the prime minister, says Turkey should allow Kurdish broadcasts on radio and TV and should not persecute moderate religious people. The military and the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is the senior partner of the coalition, strongly oppose this. This example on its own shows the depth of the divisions and discord in Turkey.

There are several others examples. This is a struggle between those who want to maintain the status quo and make some superficial changes in Turkey that will look like reforms but in essence will preserve the current system and those who want serious reform and sweeping changes.

Now a new kind of struggle has been added to the battle for democracy. This is between those who want to scrap the current economic system which is based on the plundering of national funds by a handful of greedy businessmen who use speculation to earn more money and those who want the economy to run on real production.

The current system has made the rich even richer and the poor poorer yet it has not lead to an increase in national production. On the contrary, the system has encouraged earning easy money through speculative means and big business in Istanbul has shunned the idea of earning through production and has opted for the easy way out. Now everyone see that this system cannot be sustained and serious structural economic changes are needed to start emphasizing production. People realize that Turkey has to start producing if it wants to export and reduce the booming foreign trade deficit. Those who want to maintain the system of plunder and easy gains realize that they are fighting a losing battle...

So the battle on two fronts will definitely shape the future of the country. The reformists have to win because the alternative is isolation and deprivation for Turkey...

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