Due to the total lack of chat on this thread, I thought I would post the latest in Turkey's political problems.
Turkey has been engaged in a 14 year guerilla war with the PKK whose leader, Abdullah Ocalan, has recently been detained by Italy after he was kicked out of Syria, went to Russia for a short stay, and then entered Italy with a false passport. The war with the PKK has cost some 30,000 lives. Ocalan is one of the old style fanatic murderers whom Turkey wants very badly, but Italy won't return him to Turkey for trial because of Turkey's capital punishment law. Turkey hasn't executed any death penalties since the early 1980's, but the government refuses to do away with the law to get Ocalan returned. The war with the PKK is a major reason for Turkey's huge and persistent budget deficit and contributes to Turkey's human rights problem which keeps it out of the European Union. Logic would dictate that they outlaw capital punishment which is not used officially in practice any more, get Ocalan shipped in from Italy, hold a show trial, and put the finishing touches on the PKK war. Instead, they threaten dire consequences to Italy if they refuse to send him to Turkey for trial. This is typical of Turkish logic. Instead of dealing with its major issues such as human rights, ethnic conflicts, economic problems, and foreign relations, it insists on making things much worse. Needless to say, one cannot expect such a culture to be concerned with the logic of cleaning up pollution.
Turkey Government Crumbles Amid Italy
Row
05:37 a.m. Nov 19, 1998 Eastern
By Alistair Bell
ANKARA (Reuters) - The clock started ticking
Thursday toward the end of Mesut Yilmaz's term as
Turkish prime minister in a government crisis
overshadowed by a growing row with Italy over
Kurdish separatism.
The national assembly was expected to approve
holding a vote of no-confidence against the minority
coalition on November 25. Yilmaz lacks parliamentary
backing and is likely to resign after Wednesday's vote.
Even close cabinet aides accept that time is up for the
government, mired in allegations of corruption and
abandoned by a leftist powerbroker.
Turkey's latest political uncertainty has hindered its
attempts to ensure the return from Rome of detained
Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
The opposition and government cannot agree on
scrapping the death penalty, an obstacle to Ocalan's
extradition.
The media have criticized Yilmaz's Islamist,
conservative and leftist foes for trying to topple the
government at a crucial time in the fight against Ocalan
and his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels in
southeast Turkey.
''These forces have joined together just as the PKK is
under pressure...and Ocalan has been arrested,'' the
Milliyet daily said. ''They will have to assume the
responsibility for that.''
The rift over Ocalan widened Wednesday when Italy
dismissed a warning by Yilmaz that it would be
considered an accomplice to mass murder unless it
extradited him.
With Turkey focused on Ocalan's fate, the coalition's
number two quietly threw in the towel Wednesday.
''This government will probably fall next week,''
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit told a meeting of
his left-wing MPs.
Turkey has failed to achieve political stability in recent
years. The present government is the fifth shaky alliance
to rule Turkey since late 1995.
Last June Yilmaz took over from Islamist Prime
Minister Necmettin Erbakan, forced from power by the
secularist army.
The present administration's fate was sealed last week
when key leftist leader Deniz Baykal withdrew his
support. MPs were to meet later Thursday (1300
GMT) to decide whether to put the opposition's joint
censure motion on the agenda.
infoseek.com:80/Content?arn=a0658LBY358reulb-19981119&qt=turkey&sv=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486
Turkey is miffed because countries of the old Soviet bloc in eastern Europe are being considered for eventual membership in the European Union while Turkey's human rights behavior keeps it from being considered. Turkey's government claims it is because it is a Moslem country while Europe is Christian.
One final comment: to me, a major difference between a parliamentary system and a presidential one is that the government of the presidential system is able to function better than a parliamentary government, given equal amounts of serious moral turpitude by their respective leaderships.
Charles |
