CONTENTS

[00] ERDOGAN VISITS SYRIA, COMMENTS ON PLANNED PROTEST RALLY

[00] BILL TO FOUND 17 UNIVERSITIES REACHES PARLIAMENT

[00] GUL CONVEYS ANKARA'S CONCERNS OVER ARMENIAN BILL TO GERMAN FM

[00] BAYKAL REBUFFS ERDOGAN'S REMARKS ON THE ROLE OF THE OPPOSITION

[00] SACEUR COMMANDER CRADDOCK VISITS GEN. BUYUKANIT

[00] GERMAN DELEGATION VISITS TURKISH PARLIAMENT

[00] ANAVATAN DEPUTY LAID TO REST

[00] AGAR: "DYP WON'T TAKE PART IN APRIL 14 DEMONSTRATION"

[00] MARCH INFLATION BEATS EXPECTATIONS

[00] BAYKAL'S 'CITIZENS' RIGHT' PROJECT

[01] BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)

[01] BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)

"Opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal has recently focused on the issue of the presidency. At his party's parliamentary group meeting yesterday, Baykal mainly spoke about the issue and called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to run for president.

In the runup to next month's looming presidential election, the opposition leader's preoccupation is very normal.

On the other hand, Baykal has been criticized for only concentrating on the basic principles of the republic, especially secularism and national unity. Some say that the CHP, though a social democrat party, hasn't produced policies or projects to tackle people's poor living conditions, unfair income distribution, etc.

Although he has been recently been focused on the presidential election, Baykal has also been working on a detailed economic and social project. The opposition party seems to be dovetailing not only the presidential election, but also the general elections, set for this November.

Baykal believes that his party's newly prepared project will attract more supporters.

When I spoke with him yesterday, Baykal summarized the project entitled 'Citizens' Rights.' Pointing to some 1 million people living on the brink of hunger, Baykal highlighted the two basic goals of the project:

1) Nearly 1 million citizens struggling to survive under poor conditions will get considerable financial aid. All they will need to get the aid is their identity cards.

2) The economy will be structured not towards laying people off, but creating jobs.

Baykal gave more details as well: These are the two basic goals of our project. We'll give the financial aid without offending people's pride, unlike the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). They give one or two aid packages to poor people, always making sure the cameras are rolling. They violate people's struggle to survive for the sake of votes. By using resources, we'll help improve poor people's living conditions.

In addition, we'll turn the structure of the economy which currently produces jobless people into a structure which creates jobs and employment. We'll have a program to wage a serious war against poverty.

Baykal also claims that real unemployment rate in Turkey has been hidden, adding that official declarations don't reflect reality. He also told about projects on small and medium-size enterprises (SEEs):

'I attended a meeting of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO). The group's chairman himself stated that the real unemployment rate was around 20 percent. This is correct. Our economy isn't producing jobs and employment. A system of making money not from production, but finance, dominates the country. We'll reverse this. We'll support SEEs for employment. Their resources are ready.'

As a social democratic party, it's the CHP's duty to pursue such projects.

Jobless people surviving through family solidarity, and one or even more families' struggle to live on only one person's wage, are hardly a secret.

The CHP's approaching the economy from a social perspective is very appropriate."

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