http://www.allnewspapers.com/middeast/ >From Meral To Ecevit MILLIYET- Columnist Fikret Bila writes on the recent statement of Prime minister Bulent Ecevit concerning the words of IMF Turkey Desk Chief Carlo Cottarelli. A summary of his column is as follows: It will not be wrong to say that the reaction shown by Prime Minister Ecevit to IMF Turkey Desk Chief Cottarelli's words is shared by his Coalition partners Mr. Bahceli and Mr. Yilmaz. It is possible to say that the reaction voiced by the Prime Minister is directed towards the style and timing of Mr. Cottarelli. At a moment when the Coalition Government was trying to search for a compromise, Mr. Cottarelli's statement on workers' wages in an imposing manner as if he was a member of the Cabinet led to the harsh reaction of the Prime Minister. This was shared by the Coalition Partners. Another important support for the Prime Minister's reaction came from the workers who formed the third leg of the trivet of "social compromise". Turk-Is Chairman Bayram Meral said that they approved of the statement made by the Prime Minister, and added, they had not sat on the table for collective bargaining for the public sector yet. He went on to say that they hoped to solve problem at the table and did not expect a new crisis. Mr. Meral said that the Government approached the issue in the same vein. M. Cottarelli's words were unfortunate to come at such a time. 'That is why Mr. Ecevit showed such a harsh reaction and he is correct in doing so.' Meral also said that this reaction should have been voiced by all the sectors in the society and added not only the political leaders but all social organizations should react to these words. However, he complained that this had not been the case. In an answer to the question on what their demands would be from the Government for a 'social compromise', Meral said that they would not be instigating a crisis when there was a chance for agreement. He believed that the wage increases should be above the rate of inflation as the Prime Minister had promised not to oppress people under the yoke of inflation. He said that they would not accept an increase equal to the targeted inflation rate and added that it has been already pronounced by the Government that the rate of inflation would be higher than the target set. The Chairman of Turk-Is Bayram Meral believes that a social compromise between the Government, workers and the employers would be the best solution. -- Mine Aysen Doyran PhD Student Department of Political Science SUNY at Albany Nelson A. Rockefeller College 135 Western Ave.; Milne 102 Albany, NY 12222 ____________NetZero Free Internet Access and Email_________ Download Now http://www.netzero.net/download/index.html Request a CDROM 1-800-333-3633 ___________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
