Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Saturday, July 7, said Turkey's relations with the International Monetary Fund as "very sensitive", after the IMF cancelled a meeting that was expected to approve new loans for the country.
"The criticism aimed at Turkey is unjustified. The Turkish parliament has worked day and night to adopt all the laws requested by the IMF. The IMF appears to have forgotten that Turkey is a state of law," Ecevit told a news conference.
He added, however, that he had received a letter on Saturday morning from IMF Director General, Horst Koehler, that "showed the institution's wish to maintain close relations with Turkey". He did not go into details.
"Our relations with the IMF are carrying on under the (austerity) agreement that we made," Ercevit said. He was referring to an agreement signed in May designed to overcome a serious economic crisis that emerged in February and forced Ankara to devalue its currency by forty percent against the dollar.
Last week, the IMF and the World Bank cancelled important meetings that were expected to grant loans of some $3.2 billion (€3.8 billion) to Turkey, citing Turkey's failure to follow a tough economic recovery program.
The IMF also criticized Ankara for not appointing "professionals" to all the posts on the new board of state telecoms firm Turk Telekom, which is earmarked for privatization. The IMF had wanted a management that was entirely free of political affiliation.
The Istanbul stock exchange fell by 9.1 percent at Friday's close. Analysts said the markets had been expecting the release of funds promised to Turkey. The depreciation of the Turkish lira also continued.
Economy Minister Kemal Dervis is currently in Washington to try and convince international donors that Turkey is committed to change, despite tensions within the Ankara government.
Ecevit sought to minimize President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's decision last Friday to veto a law opening the tobacco sector to competition ― one of the conditions required by the IMF before it will release new funds.
"The president is not obliged to ratify all the laws submitted to him," Ecevit said, hinting the government might send the bill back to him unchanged. If this were the case, the president would have to approve it but could then ask the constitutional court to annul it.
The 76-year-old premier also denied rumors he was in poor health, accusing "some sectors of society" of wanting to destabilize the country and the "harmony" of its ruling three-party coalition. ― (AFP, Ankara)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
