POLITICAL PARTIES VIE FOR POPULAR NAMES IN BUREAUCRACY
Ercan Yavuz Ankara
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 1 2007
Turkey is focused on the elections scheduled for fall. Combined with
the presidential elections process which will start in April and end
on May 16, the bureaucracy has virtually come to a halt.
As bureaucrats are trying to be in included on the candidate lists of
political parties, the parties are seeking to set up their "A Teams"
recruiting successful bureaucrats. The ruling Justice and Development
Party (AK Party) will attract those bureaucrats who worked with the
AK Party during its 4.5 years of government and who consider those
years successful.
As was the case in previous elections, the primary preference of
bureaucrats will be the ruling AK Party. When the first "A Team"
of successful bureaucrats, set up by Turgut Ozal, was triumphant in
politics, this practice was assumed by other political parties. In the
1995 elections, True Path Party (DYP) Leader Tansu Ciller established
her A Team with Ayfer Yýlmaz, Hayri Kozakcýoðlu, Unal Erkan, Necdet
Menzir, Tekin Enerem, Jefi Kamhi, Gencay Gurun, and other famous
figures.
The AK Party is the front-runner for bureaucrats for the nearing
elections. Many bureaucrats who have dreams of being deputies have
already set to establishing close contacts with the headquarters of
the AK Party. The AK Party currently has 350 seats in the parliament
and it is difficult for the senior management of the party to decide
who will run for parliament in the approaching elections. Relatively
at ease in formulating the candidates lists in the elections of Nov.
3, 2002, the AK Party seems to be finding trouble for the coming
elections. This is because the existing deputies will try to maintain
their places while celebrities and bureaucrats will attempt to figure
out how to replace them. The AK Party management is not eager to see
the re-election of some people who were elected as deputies in 2002.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoðan has plans to recruit successful
bureaucrats to replace them and this issue is likely to give him
some headaches.
The most likely bureaucrat to step into the political arena is
Prime Ministry Undersecretary Omer Dincer. Dincer, whose appointment
decree has been repeatedly vetoed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer,
will be elected as a deputy from his hometown Karaman. Other likely
names to run for the parliamentary elections include Health Ministry
Undersecretary Necdet Unuvar, Education Ministry Undersecretary
Necati Birinci, Sumerbank General Director Sezai Ensari, Public
Works and Settlement Ministry Undersecretary Sabri Erbakan, Savings
Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) Chairman Ahmet Erturk, Culture Ministry
Undersecretary Mustafa Ýsen, Education Ministry Personnel General
Director Remzi Kaya, Foundations General Director Yusuf Beyazýt,
Youth and Sports General Director Mehmet Atalay, State Waterworks
Administration (DSÝ) General Director Veysel Eroðlu, Housing
Development Administration (TOKÝ) Chairman Erdoðan Bayraktar, and
Ziraat Bank General Director Can Akýn Caðlar.
AK Party’s favorite celebrities: Ozhan and Kurtoðlu The AK Party is
also planning to include celebrities in its A Team.
These celebrities include famous singers Ahmet Ozhan and Cengiz
Kurtoðlu. Previously, actor Tamer Yiðit and singer Yasemin Kumral
had become members of the AK Party. They will definitely be nominated
for the nearing elections, sources say.
CHP Leader Deniz Baykal will set up its A Team from people who were
victimized by the ruling AK Party. Professor Dr. Yucel Aþkýn, the
former president of 100 Yýl University in Van, is one person Baykal
is trying to enlist. It was alleged that Education Minister Huseyin
Celik launched an investigation against Aþkýn, who was later arrested
on charges of fraud. The Democratic Left Party’s (DSP) former Finance
Minister Zekeriya Temizel and Chief Inspector Hamza Kacar, who were
removed from office in connection with the recent "mole scandal" in the
Finance Ministry, were also on the CHP’s list of possible candidates.
Baykal is also trying to make his party a magnet for significant
figures of the DSP, including former Finance Minister Zekeriya Temizel,
former Foreign Minister Þukru Sina Gurel and former Education Minister
Necdet Tekin. Turkish Pipeline Company (BOTAÞ) General Director Necdet
Pamir, regarded as a prominent figure in energy issues in Turkey,
will be transferred by the CHP. From the military bureaucracy, the
CHP is planning to recruit retired Lt. Gen.
Erdoðan Karakuþ, the former commander of the Office of the Chief
of General Staff Military Historical and Strategic Studies Center
(ATESE), who unearthed important documents and evidence against the
Armenian genocide claims.
Derviþ Gunday, the Chairman of Turkish Confederation of Trade Unions
of Artisans, who frequently made polemics with the government, will
be nominated for parliament by the CHP. Former Higher Education
Board (YOK) President Kemal Guruz, who was previously claimed to
be supporting the Motherland Party (ANAVATAN), is very likely to be
included in CHP A Team. Actress Þehnaz Cakýralp will definitely be
nominated by the CHP for parliament in the nearing elections, sources
say. In a television series depicting the period of the Democratic
Party (DP), considered as the pioneer of the Turkish center-right,
Cakýralp played the role of DP deputy’s mistress.
CHP Leader Baykal had managed to attract former World Bank Deputy
President Kemal Derviþ, Ambassador Ýnal Batu, professor of theology
Yaþar Nuri Ozturk, singer Zulfu Livaneli and Berhan Þimþek for the
parliamentary elections of Nov. 3, 2002, but failed to keep them in
the party. Except for Berhan Þimþek, all became opponents of Baykal.
Tatlýses goes independent, Ulusoy favorite for all parties Football
Federation President Haluk Ulusoy, who drew attention with the polemics
he made on the government and especially with State Minister for Sports
Mehmet Ali Þahin, is also readying himself for the elections. The
CHP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are in a tug-of-war for
Ulusoy. In the face of Minister Mehmet Ali Þahin’s allegations of
fraud, Ulusoy is expected to make his choice for the MHP and become a
deputy for Trabzon. The MHP is also considering nominating Ambassador
Deniz Bolukbaþý for the parliament.
Bolukbaþý was in the spotlight during the negotiations with the US in
connection with the American request to stage part of the invasion
of Iraq in 2003 from Turkey and sources say that he may enter the
political arena on the insistence of the MHP.
Another celebrity who has plans for politics is famous singer
Ýbrahim Tatlýses. Tatlýses, who is on trial in connection with the
"Sauna Gang" probe and who may be sentenced to up to six months in
prison, announced that he would run as an independent for his hometown
Þanlýurfa. The past of Turkish politics is rife with cases of people
accused of important offenses who try to acquire immunity by becoming
parliamentary deputies.
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