Political Rumblings Towards Turkish General Elections
23 parties will run in November including "Turkish Communist Party"
Yuksel Oktay, Special Correspondent in Turkey, The Turkish Times - Turkish politics is hopping these days with daily developments and a crackling nervous energy focused on November general elections. A recent headline: Kemal Dervis is trying to bring the parties on the left under a roof headed by Erdal Inonu rather than joining the New Turkey Party -- a futile exercise that should never have been initiated. There is also a news story about the formation of some kind of an alliance between Ismail Cem's New Turkey Party and Mehmet Ali Bayar's Demokratik Turkiye Partisi, which may be good. Other parties are also looking at some form of alliance on the right and the left in order to pass the 10% threshold (parties that get less than 10% of the total votes nationwide cannot be represented in the Turkish Parliament).

Here is an alphabetical list of the 23 parties which were announced eligible to take part in the elections:

01. Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP) -- Justice and Development Party of Recep Tayyip Erdogan
02. Anavatan Partisi (ANAP)-- Motherland Party of Mesut Yilmaz
03. Aydinlik Turkiye Partisi (ATP)-- Luminous Turkey part of Tugrul Turkes (son of late Alpaslan Turkes)
04. Bagimsiz Turkiye Partisi (BTP)-- Independent Turkey Party of Prof. Dr. Haydar Bas
05. Buyuk Birlik Partisi (BBP)-- Grand Unity Party
06. Cumhuriyet Halk partisi (CHP)-- People's Republican Party of Deniz Baykal
07. Demokrat parti (DP)-- Democrat Party of Melih Gokcek
08. Demokrat Turkiye Partisi (DTP)-- Democrat Turkey Party of Mehmet Ali Bayar.
09. Demokratik Halk Partisi (DEHAP) -— Democratic Peoples’ Party
10. Demokratik Sol Parti (DSP) -- Democratic Left Party of Bulent/Rahsan Ecevit
11. Dogru Yol Partisi (DYP) -- True Path Party of Tansu Ciller
12. Emegin Partisi (EMEP) — Party of Labor
13. Halkin Demokrasi Partisi (HADEP) — Peoples’ Democracy Party
14. Isci Partisi (IP) -- Workers Party of Dogu Perincek
15. Liberal Demokrat Parti (LDP)
16. Milliyetci Hareket Partisi (MHP)-- Nationalist Action Party of Devlet Bahceli
17. Millet Partisi (MP) — Nation Party
18. Saadet Partisi (SP)-- Felicity Party of Recai Kutan
19. Yurt Partisi (YP) — Fatherland Party
20. Ozgurluk ve Dayanisma Partisi (ODP) — Liberty and Solidarity Party
21. Yeniden Dogus Partisi (YDP) -- Renaissance Party of Hasan celal Guzel
22. Turkiye Komunist Partisi (TKP) -- Turkish Communist Party
23. Yeni Turkiye Partisi (YTP) -- New Turkey Party of Ismail Cem

[The author’s note as we were going to the press: Turkish politics changes daily. Already the number of parties has been reduced from 23 to 19. DEHAP has taken the place of HADEP, both mostly Kurdish parties. However, the name of HADEP will appear on many ballots that have already been printed.]

Now, let’s look at some of the very interesting developments.

The Young Party of Cem Uzan (YP) is not included in the above list, but Renaissance Party (Yeniden Dogus Partisi) of Hasan Celal Guzel is. Being the smart organizer that he claims he is, Cem Uzan (the billionaire boss of Star group of companies) decided to take over the YTP so he can enter the elections, win a seat in the Parliament and gain his untouchable status. This took place during the YTP's convention in Ankara on August 2nd as reported by Milliyet on August 3rd, also stating that Hasan Celal Guzel told the delegates why they should vote for Cem Uzan who could be losing his Turkish citizenship in ten days. The papers revealed that Cem Uzan had obtained Jordanian citizenship without permission. The article also describes the fist fights that took place during the convention. Only in Turkey.

The famous former interior minister Sadettin Tantan, who was literally kicked out of Anavatan for starting the White Energy Operation, which recently concluded with heavy sentences brought down for 3 former officials, is flirting with Yurt Partisi in order to get elected, according to Cumhuriyet.

As I write these lines, (famous Turkish TV anchor) Ali Kirca is interviewing Recep Tayyip Erdogan (RTE) on his new program, SECIM MEYDANI, (which is the third in the series to be continued with the heads of Political parties). RTE talks about his past, constantly repeating that he has matured, not changed, as the media has been reporting about him. He is repeating that he is for peace and love and that his view on the European Union and the World Bank has changed. Kemal Dervis's best friend, an economy professor today made a statement that Kemal Dervis and AK Party are the answer to solving Turkey's problems? RTE keeps talking on and on, but in my personal opinion it’s mostly empty words. For example, Ali Kirca is asking who are on his team. RTP replies that the names can not be revealed...

Continuing on the formation of new parties in Turkey, here is the latest and the 49th party - NEW FACES PARTY! Founders include businessman lawyer Munci Inci, businessman Ates Unal Erzen... Why and what is their main purpose?? No one knows.

I still do not have much hope on the results of the elections, which will be based on the same Election Law, and the same Political Parties Law, which the Parliament did not bother to revise -- despite endless speeches on the need to revamp them.

Stay tuned.

The author, an energy consultant petroleum engineer who is an expert in
Turkish energy plants, can be reached at yoktay@ada.net.tr.