How "War Against Terrorism" uses IMF on Turkey

How "War Against Terrorism" uses IMF on Turkey
by B. Y.
19 July 2002 13:43 UTC

How "War Against Terrorism" uses IMF on Turkey

Nowadays Turkish goverment is shaking with a mass resignation of ministers.

Resignations reached to 63 in just a week. Story begun with the dottiness and health problems of the prime minister Bulent Ecevit, head of the Democratic Left Party (in reality the party is not on the left, it is some kind of a national socialist, maybe you can directly say, a fascist party), also head of the three party coalition. The current situation required the resignation of Ecevit.

However he is very insistent about his statue. His illness interrupted the issues in the council, for example the issues about the IMF policies or the EU membership criteria which are required to be accomplished in the very near future and very critical to be handled until the next EU meeting.

But it must be cleared that Ecevit's situation was not the only problem for the required membership arrangements: the second biggest party of the senate and a member of the coalition MHP (National Movement Party - an extremely right wing party) is still resisting against EU membership. Their main argument is national sovereignty. On the other hand, maybe that is the most important thing about the Turkish government that the current Minister of Economy, Kemal Dervis is an ex- IMF head,led by IMF to this position and he is not an MP. He is at the cabinet, but not a not a selected member of the parliament. He was allowed to do all the necessary arrangements for sustaining consistency with the IMF policies.

Turkish economy has been in a very deep crises since two years. The main reason is the `war againist terrorism` of the government against the Kurdish guerillas in the South-Eastern part of the country. The war continued for 15 years without any specific result, except for a huge amount of loss from both sides and a lot of massacres by the Turkish Army.

A large period of this war was coincided with the cold war period and so the USA supported the Turkish Army with weapons and policies. In this period Turkey was the number one customer of the US weapons.

But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Turkey in the middle east became less important for the USA. Then USA arrested the Kurdish guerilla leader Abdullah Ocalan for Turkey and clearly said "stop this war and be an alley for me in the EU". However this demand was not so easy for the Turkish Army, since the Army led the country for years and increased its power during the war time.

EU had some criteria for the membership: 1) abandonment of the dead clause - which directly affect Ocalan who is still in prison with a dead clause. 2)a more democratic country - Turkey is at the top in the Human Rights Court. 3) improvement of the economy - means less money for the army and IMF.

Then Turkey started to apply IMF policies like Argentina nearly at the same times, and Turkish economy was worse than Argentina.

S11 became a turning point for Turkey. Its importance in the Middle East with its huge army increased. Turkish army is directing the troops to Afghanistan now. IMF credits started to flow. Before his illness Ecevit meet with Bush and agreed on an Iraq operation.

They decided to start the operation after the summer season because tourism is important for the Turkish economy. Then suddenly Ecevit's health gone worse. This was simply a thread for the future plans - acting together with an irrational president.

Then the operation started in the Turkish government. Ministers and deputies started to withdraw from Ecevit's party and consequently from the cabinet. They are planning to establish a new party which will clearly open the barriers on the way of IMF policies and EU criteria.

Also this will the best for USA foreign policy. Now every step taken by opposing wing is under the control of IMF and USA (of course not announcing anyway). Another type of Venezuelan case.

On the other hand, maybe this will be the best for the Turkish people. Because this dirty game gives promises about a more democratic country.

MHP and some parties in favor of the military still oppose EU (but it is required to say that after S11 and the possibility of an Iraq operation, guaranteed the position and power of the Army.)

Of course it is very hard to talk positive about the Turkish economy and democracy in Turkey while there is war situation in Iraq. But current policies sound good for the people, in the short term.