In a separate and earlier development, Turkish business and industry leaders have criticized the exclusion of Turkish textiles and apparel from the scope of the QIZ agreement as it relates to the Turkish-U.S. Trade .

In a letter dated September 11, 2002 and sent to US Senators John B. Breaux (Louisiana), Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), John McCain (Arizona), and US Representatives Philip M. Crane (Illinois), and Robert I. Wexler (Florida), nine major American-Jewish organizations characterized the pending QIZ legislation as a development that "sends a timely and well-justified message of American solidarity with Turkey."

American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League, B'nai B'rith International, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hadassah - The Women's Zionist Organization of America, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, and Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America described Turkey as a country which sits "at the center of the world."

"Since the attacks of last September, there is a new recognition of the importance of the long-standing U.S.-Turkish partnership. That is why the coalition of American Jewish organizations, as indicated on this letterhead, commends your sponsorship of legislation, (S. 2663) the Turkish-Israeli Economic Enhancement Act, to create Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs) between Turkey and Israel, under the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement. The American-Turkish-Israeli relationship is the foundation for securing stability and democratic interests in a troubled and dangerous part of the world," the American-Jewish groups said.

"The establishment of these zones, similar to the ones at the border of Israel and Jordan, will offer new opportunities to Ankara and Israel and will no doubt increase joint Turkish-U.S. investments, aimed at exporting to the Turk countries or the Middle East and the Euro-Asia. "

"There is hardly a place in the world where the intersection of politics and economics is more clearly complete. That is why we are convinced that the benefits of creating economic development through expanded free trade are so important. We strongly support this bipartisan legislation and will work to secure its passage. We also encourage other members of the Congress who support Israel and America's loyal ally in a troubled region to come forward and co-sponsor this legislation. We hope it will pass quickly. This legislation sends a timely and well-justified message of American solidarity with Turkey," the American-Jewish groups concluded.

Concern of Turkish business
Officials of the Turkish Foreign Ministry have relayed the concerns of Turkish business community to the US State Department during a meeting held in Washington at the end of August between the Turkish and American teams. The QIZ legislation, in its current form, is opposed by the Turkish business and industry leaders because it excludes textiles and apparel, Turkey's primary exports and the only industry capable of expansion in the US market.

Republican Congressman, Cliff Stearns of Florida and Democratic Congressman, Robert Wexler of Florida, had joined a contingent of Turkish business leaders at a meeting on July 22nd in Washington where they expressed their full support for a more meaningful economic agreement for Turkey and asked the US Treasury Representatives (USTR) to prepare a more comprehensive proposal that would give Turkey the opportunity to pull itself out of its economic crisis.

QIZ, which was proposed by the State Department as a result of Presidents Bush's joint declaration for development of a strategic economic partnership with Turkish Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, during his visit to Washington last January, includes products vaguely defined as high tech to be exported to the US without quotas and custom taxes but excludes textiles and apparel for which Turkey has vast resources and capabilities.

"Over 50 percent of Turkish exports to the US are textiles and apparel which has reached its limit of $1.2 billion. The US imports billions of dollars worth of textiles and apparel from China and Hong Kong. It's not because of Turkish imports that US textile workers are losing their jobs. We're asking for a fair share because this is what we have to offer the US market that will pull Turkey out of economic crisis", says Ziya Sukun, US representative of ITKIB and TIM. ITKIB represents textile and apparel exporters with 14,000 corporate members, 6.4 million workers and exports of $10 billion globally. Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) has over 25,000 corporate members with $33 billion in global exports. Other industry organizations such as the Turkish National Union of Chambers of Commerce (TOBB) also oppose the agreement in its present form.

"It's expected that when the President of the United States declares an economic partnership program it means more than a simple QIZ project. It means lifting trade barriers and adjusting custom taxes for substantial industries that have a meaningful effect on our country's economy," adds Sukun.

Deutsche Bank Survey Shows AKP in the Lead
Coalition partners' loss is significant
The Turkish Times - To pro-Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party) would be the winner of a general election in Turkey if the elections were held today - according to a recent Deutsche Bank-Konda public poll conducted in August. AKP is led by the controversial Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been prosecuted in the past for violating secularism and for alleged corruption during his term as mayor of Istanbul. The party refuses the label "pro-Islamist" and claims it's just another centrist-conservative party.

Egemen Bagis, the President of the New York-based Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA) has announced that he will run in the November 2002 Turkish general elections as a AKP candidate.

According to the Deutsche Bank-Konda poll conducted with a sample of 2,400 voters in 7 different regions AKP leads as the most favorite party with 24.6% of the votes. The social-democratic CHP (led by Deniz Baykal and bolstered by the membership of Kemal Dervis) trails second with 14.2% of the votes. Since there is a 10% threshold to enter the Parliament, AKP and CHP right now seem to be the only two parties (out of a total of 50-plus) that would end up with seats in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

Of those who expressed their preference to vote for AKP, 43% said they wanted to do so in order "to try out the untried."

Although AKP officially denies that it has a pro-Islamic agenda, a look at the background of its founders reveal the continuity between AKP and other parties that do not attempt to hide their pro-Islamic agenda. 273 of those who applied to be AKP candidates in the November elections are former members of now-defunct pro-Islamist Welfare (Refah) Party. 173 of the candidates are former members of two other pro-Islamic parties: Virtue and Felicity parties. Of the AKP candidates, 446 of them identified themselves with the pro-Islamic "National View" ideology, according to veteran columnist Cengiz Candar of daily Yeni Safak.

33% of those who voted for the coalition partner ultra-nationalist MHP and 26% of those who voted for the coalition partner center-liberal ANAP in 1999 elections said they'd this time vote for AKP. 53% of AKP supporters said they also rooted for Turkey's full membership in the European Union. Only 48% of MHP supporters want Turkey enter EU. The same figure is 91% among pro-Kurdish HADEP, 83% among social-democratic CHP and 80% among center-liberal ANAP and YTP supporters.

In another poll conducted in July [TT's note -- we could not ascertain whether this earlier poll was also conducted by Deutsche Bank-Korda], AKP garnered 19.0% while CHP pulled 6.9%. Center-conservative DYP has dropped from 9.5% to 8.8% while coalition partner ultra-nationalist MHP slipped from 10% to 6.1% between July and August. Another coalition partner center-liberal ANAP dropped from 7.5% to 3.7%.

Social-democratic YTP dived from 7.5% to 4.0%. Those who are undecided, probably the most crucial determinant of November 2002 elections, stepped back from 25.4% to 20.1% in the last two months.

Turkish observers claim that it is not totally unrealistic to expected only two or three parties enter the Parliament after the upcoming general election.