At times they return
At times they return
It took a bedroom scandal to get the chair of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Deniz Baykal to resign. Baykal in a sombre mood announced on Monday that he was to resign but he warned that "this is not a matter of a tape. This is a conspiracy. I am not the only victim of this conspiracy; it is also aimed at the CHP". Baykal told a news conference that "this kind of illegal activity carried out on the leader of the main opposition party could not have been done without the knowledge of the government". The tape was released on the internet purporting to show the leader of the CHP and a woman (later named as CHP Ankara deputy Nesrin Baytok) in a bedroom. "If this has a price, - said Baykal - and that price is the resignation from CHP leadership, I am ready to pay it. My resignation does not mean running away, or giving in. On the contrary, it means that I'm fighting it". Baykal pointed out that the videotape timely 'emerged' at a time when the CHP is trying to block government plans to hold a referendum on constitutional reforms. In his remarks Baykal hinted that he is not at all abandoning politics. The next public meeting for him will be the general convention of his party, scheduled on 22 and 23 May. And indeed all eyes are now set on the upcoming convention where a new party leader is expected to be elected. And speculations have started as to the possible successor.
AK Party parliamentary group deputy chairman Bekir Bozdag that "the AK Party preferred to remain silent on the incident due to its political and moral values. We have targeted the CHP and its leader for their policies and political discourse. But we have never appreciated attempts to hit below the belt in politics. However, Baykal has misinterpreted our position. The people know best. Baykal was an important figure in Turkish politics, and he should not have ended his political life in this way”.
The Peace and Democratic Party's (BDP) Muþ deputy Sýrrý Sakýk said Baykal dropped hints in his speech of a return to politics. “His decision to resign from the party - he said - leadership was not a surprise at all. But, no one can know what will happen in the next few days. During his speech, he gave signals that he may return to politics. If he does so, I will not be surprised”.
Baykal, 71, had led the CHP since 1992. Founded by Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, the CHP is the voice of the urban secularist elite. Baykal resigned once before from his post as the party leader when the CHP failed to reach the 10 percent election threshold in the 1999 elections.
The leader of the CHP was born to Circassian parents in 1938 in the Black Sea town of Bafra. He studied at the University of Ankara's Faculty of Law, and then at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University. He was first involved in politics during the student movement against the Democrat Party, or DP, government in the late 1950s. Baykal quit his career as an academic in 1973 and was elected a deputy for the CHP, serving as finance minister in the Bülent Ecevit-led government in 1974. In 1978, he was back again in an Ecevit Cabinet, this time as the energy and natural resources minister. Following the September 12, 1980, military coup, Baykal was arrested before being banned from politics for five years. Baykal had to wait until 1987 to return to active politics, when he was elected an Antalya deputy for the Social Democrat People’s Party, or SHP. CHP was re-opened in 1992 and held its 25th congress in 1992, where it elected Baykal as its leader.
AK Party parliamentary group deputy chairman Bekir Bozdag that "the AK Party preferred to remain silent on the incident due to its political and moral values. We have targeted the CHP and its leader for their policies and political discourse. But we have never appreciated attempts to hit below the belt in politics. However, Baykal has misinterpreted our position. The people know best. Baykal was an important figure in Turkish politics, and he should not have ended his political life in this way”.
The Peace and Democratic Party's (BDP) Muþ deputy Sýrrý Sakýk said Baykal dropped hints in his speech of a return to politics. “His decision to resign from the party - he said - leadership was not a surprise at all. But, no one can know what will happen in the next few days. During his speech, he gave signals that he may return to politics. If he does so, I will not be surprised”.
Baykal, 71, had led the CHP since 1992. Founded by Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, the CHP is the voice of the urban secularist elite. Baykal resigned once before from his post as the party leader when the CHP failed to reach the 10 percent election threshold in the 1999 elections.
The leader of the CHP was born to Circassian parents in 1938 in the Black Sea town of Bafra. He studied at the University of Ankara's Faculty of Law, and then at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University. He was first involved in politics during the student movement against the Democrat Party, or DP, government in the late 1950s. Baykal quit his career as an academic in 1973 and was elected a deputy for the CHP, serving as finance minister in the Bülent Ecevit-led government in 1974. In 1978, he was back again in an Ecevit Cabinet, this time as the energy and natural resources minister. Following the September 12, 1980, military coup, Baykal was arrested before being banned from politics for five years. Baykal had to wait until 1987 to return to active politics, when he was elected an Antalya deputy for the Social Democrat People’s Party, or SHP. CHP was re-opened in 1992 and held its 25th congress in 1992, where it elected Baykal as its leader.
