DATE=8/21/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / GOVERNMENT (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-265702
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit
today/Monday accused the country's president,
Ahmet Necdet Sezer, of hindering Turkey's fight
against radical Islam. Amberin Zaman has the
report from Ankara.
TEXT: President Sezer rejected for a second time
a draft decree that would enable the government
to fire civil servants deemed to be Islamic
fundamentalists or Kurdish separatists.
President Sezer vetoed the decree saying it was
unconstitutional.
Prime Minister Ecevit said Mr. Sezer's decision -
in the prime minister's words - "makes it harder
for the state to do its duty and to defend the
constitutional order."
Analysts had predicted that President Sezer's
rejection for a second time of the controversial
decree would further strain relations with
Turkey's coalition government, led by Prime
Minister Ecevit.
Turkey's influential military is widely believed
to be in favor of the decree, which would make it
possible to dismiss hundreds of civil servants
accused of links with armed radical groups and
Kurdish separatists. Turkey's generals view
themselves as the sole custodians of the pro-
secular legacy of the founder of modern Turkey,
Kemal Ataturk. And they believe that Islamic
militancy constitutes the greatest threat to
Turkey's efforts toward full integration with
Europe.
President Sezer says the decree does not conform
with the principles of the rule of law. He says
that it is up to the Turkish parliament to
legislate bills that would authorize the
government to take such action. He used those
grounds in early August to overturn the measure
for the first time. Prime Minister Ecevit sent
it back then saying the president - in his words
- was "obliged" to sign it.
Some analysts say that President Sezer's
objection stems from his legal background. Before
being elected president last may, Mr. Sezer was
the top judge of Turkey's constitutional court.
His secular credentials have never been held in
question. As president of the constitutional
court, he voted in favor of banning the Welfare
Party, Turkey's largest pro-Islamic political
organization.
But most analysts agree that whatever Mr. Sezer's
motives, the outcome of his rejection will have
profound political consequences. Prime Minister
Ecevit said as much last week when he sent the
decree back to the president. Prime Minister
Ecevit warned that if he failed to sign it a
crisis would erupt in the country. He did not
specify, however, what form the crisis would
take.
Turkish opposition leaders, meanwhile, have
hailed Mr. Sezer's decision as a victory for
Turkish democracy. (Signed)
NEB/AZ/GE/KL
21-Aug-2000 12:38 PM EDT (21-Aug-2000 1638 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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