When members of the far right Nationalist Action Party captured nearly 20 percent of the vote in Sunday's elections and positioned themselves for a likely role in Turkey's next government, they set the stage for what could be a turbulent debate over this country's attitude toward its Kurdish minority and its role in the region.
To members of the party's newly elected batch of parliamentary deputies, a group that likely will join the winning party of current Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit to form a new government, their success is a natural outgrowth of the failure of other parties to protect Turkey's interests.
To others, it is a haunting echo from the days when factions from the right and left openly battled in the streets during the 1970s - an era that led to a military coup and gained the Nationalist Action Party a reputation for anti-left and anti-Communist thuggery.
After taking over the party two years ago, current leader Devlet Bahceli closed many branches of a youth wing that party officials concede were "uncontrollable" and a possible source of embarrassment in the campaign.
Even if the party has lived down its aggressive history, its success is disturbing to analysts who see it as a vote that will stoke antagonism with the country's Kurdish minority and probably damage relations between Turkey and Europe, particularly neighboring Greece.
It is, they said, the wrong time for Turkey to turn nationalist.
"Nationalism is being bombed to the south (in Iraq) and bombed to the north (in Yugoslavia), and there is an upsurge here," Dogu Ergil, a professor at Ankara University who has been investigated for his work with a group urging reconciliation between Turkey and its Kurdish minority. "It is an anachronism."
Ecevit's Democratic Left Party led in the voting, and he is likely to emerge as prime minister for the
fourth time in his long career. At the same time, the election indicated that the influence of the
country's Islam-based Virtue Party on national politics has peaked. After steadily gaining votes in the
1990s and raising concern that secular Turkey might choose a fundamentalist path, support for Virtue
declined sharply in Sunday's voting.
Bahceli and nationalist party members said they will not rush into a deal with Ecevit, and could
conceivably choose to stay in opposition or even, depending on the final vote count, demand that
Bahceli become prime minister. They said Ecevit will have to meet some of their terms if a
government is to be formed, and chief among them is a high priority for the continued fight against
Ocalan's outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party.
``The first issue is terror,'' said Sevket Yahnici, a Nationalist Action Party deputy, adding that if
Ocalan is given the death penalty following his upcoming trial, the party will work to see that it is
carried out. Although the death penalty is authorized under Turkish law, executions must be approved
by the parliament, and none has been for more than a decade. Ecevit is on record saying that Ocalan
should not be an exception to that de facto ban on executions.
The nationalist party's success surprised Turkey's political establishment. Its strength was not
reflected in polls or in the predictions of mainstream analysts and commentators.
It seemed, said Western diplomats, a classic statement of frustration from Turkey's Anatolian
heartland, outside the urban hubs of Anakara and Istanbul.
Besides political corruption and high inflation, nationalist sentiment has had plenty to feed it in recent
years. Turkey, for example, was excluded from a list of countries invited to join the European Union,
a fact taken as a slap from a group of nations that Turks feel are critical of their records on democracy
and human rights.
In addition, the refusal of European nations to aid in Ocalan's capture and extradition _ he was finally
captured in Kenya _ was taken as another sign that the West regards this crossroads between Europe
and Asia as an unworthy member of its club.
LA TIMES-WASHINGTON POST--04-19-99 1955EDT
The United States claims the EU discriminates unfairly against bananas imported from U.S. multinational companies in Latin America and favors those from former European colonies in the Caribbean and Africa.
The WTO had already ruled EU policies illegal.
In response, Washington has announced a package of sanctions worth $191.4 million a year imposing tariffs of up to 100 percent on a list of products, effectively doubling the price of some items.
Products affected include French handbags, German coffee-makers, bed linens, cardboard packing material and felt paper.
After a WTO expert panel approved the sanctions, EU trade ambassador Roderick Abbott said the EU would change its licenses and quotas to comply with WTO rules. It may take until next year to put the changes through.
"We have expressed our intention to comply fully," Abbott said. "That is not to say it is going to be easy, because we are consulting with people whose interests are diametrically opposed to each other, but at any rate we will try."
Changes in the EU regulations have to be approved by all 15 member states. Abbott said any changes would probably not come before January and could even be delayed till autumn by upcoming European elections.
"We are very much in hopes that the retaliation can end and will end very quickly," U.S. trade ambassador Rita Hayes said.
The United States said yesterday that it would make the sanctions retroactive to March 3, the date on which it started forcing importers to post a bond for the proposed tariffs. The arbitration panel was supposed to report back on that date, but missed its deadline.
EU members and many other WTO countries argue that sanctions can only start from the day of WTO approval, Abbott said. The EU will seek consultations with the United States over the issue, he said.
04-20-99
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