Worried with the spreading unrest of tradesmen, truck drivers and students, the Turkish government is expected to announce a set of measures after Monday’s cabinet meeting that will aim to satisfy the urgent demands of the protestors while a new economic program is expected to be announced this week after completion of talks with an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team on the document, reported Turkish Daily News (TDN).
Meanwhile, anti-Kurdish riots broke out in a northwestern town following a murder blamed on a Kurd.
Quoting government sources, TDN said the new measures may include a decision to pull back interest rates on Halk Bank credits to tradesmen to pre-crisis levels of around 55 percent from the current 110 percent or even higher, as well as allocation of some funds to the debt-ridden bank to open limited credits to troubled tradesmen.
A tax pardon, or a decrease in Social Security Institution (SSK) contributions, also demanded by the tradesmen, are out of the question, the sources said. However, the government is reportedly considering an interest-free deferral for few months for overdue SSK payments.
The sources told the English daily that the new decisions of the government that are expected to be announced after the Cabinet meeting will enter into force immediately and are anticipated to satisfy the urgent demands of the tradesmen and bring an end to spreading riots all over the country.
A demand by the tradesmen for a fixed TL 850,000-900,000 to the dollar rate be applied in repayment of dollar debts to banks, on the other hand, would not be considered by the Cabinet as the state cannot shoulder such a burden at this critical stage of the Turkish economy, said the paper.
Meanwhile, an IMF team headed by outgoing Turkey desk chief Carlo Cottarelli arrived in Ankara on Sunday for talks on a new economic program which will replace the $11.5 billion IMF program that was gutted by the crisis. After IMF approval, the government is expected to announce the new program, which Ankara hopes will help secure foreign loans aimed at easing the plight of ordinary workers, on Wednesday or Thursday.
Turks have taken to the streets across the country in the thousands over the past week, demanding the government resign over its handling of a crisis that has slashed over 70 percent off the value of the Turkish lira, raising pressure on already-strapped wage earners.
The government is afraid that extremist elements may infiltrate the demonstrating groups "that raise their legitimate demands" and spark a campaign of urban violence that may further worsen the already delicate situation in the country, said TDN.
Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan, whose rating comes third in the latest public opinion polls, after reformist President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and the military, on Saturday accused Islamists and revolutionaries of exploiting anti-government demonstrations.
In remarks to Turkey's largest circulation Hurriyet newspaper, Tantan told the tradesmen, who have organized many of the demonstrations, that they had been infiltrated by banned Islamist, far-left organizations and other extremist groups that want to overturn the country's secular, Western-oriented system.
"When they demonstrate, the tradesmen better work to see that they don't take up with those who have other agendas. Otherwise it will spin out of control and overrun the tradesmen too," he said.
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit vowed on Friday that his government would not resign, as club-wielding police in the capital Ankara used armored cars equipped with water cannons to break up street demonstrations and arrested dozens of people.
Riots took place Sunday for other reasons.
According to media reports quoted by AFP, the suspected rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl by an ethnic Kurd led to rioting in the northwestern town of Susurluk which left seven people injured.
A crowd of around 5,000 had gathered late Sunday in Susurluk chanting slogans such as "Death to the Kurds" and "Down with the PKK" before gutting a restaurant where the suspected killer, Recep Ipek, had worked, the daily Milliyet said.
Seven people, including four police officers, were hurt in the rioting, according to the Anatolia agency.
The mob also set fire to the Ipek's house, as well as two shops owned by Kurds, according to Hurriyet, another daily.
Police, who have launched a manhunt for Ipek, stepped up security in the town after the discovery of the body of the girl, Afsar Sila Caldiran, in the basement of Ipek's home.
An autopsy was to establish the cause of death, said the report – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
