An independent Turkish MP, who was formerly a group deputy leader in the Virtue Party (VP) before it was made virtually banned by the Constitutional Court for anti-secular activity, has announced he is siding with the reformist wing of the now divided former VP.
MP Bulent Arinc implied that the Islamist former premier, Necmettin Erbakan, was behind the decision, according to the Turkish Daily News.
When the party was dissolved, there had been talk of making him the leader of a new party to comprise both the conservative and reformist wings of the VP, so as not to allow the party to break up. This was not to be.
Speaking at a press conference at Parliament, Arinc implied that the reason for the split within the former VP was Erbakan, who was also the former leader of the defunct Welfare Party, which had been dissolved by the Constitutional Court on the same grounds.
Arinc said the new party to be formed by the conservatives with Erbakan's backing was going to be a 'family party.'
He said the former party voters would unite with the party the reformists were about to found.
Arinc said that following the closure of the VP, 80 former VP deputies and 300 former VP mayors together with most of the former party organization leaders had asked him to form a single party with himself as leader.
Arinc said, implying Erbakan, that he had talked with "the very top" but had received an insistent 'no' to this formula.
He added that he had done everything to found a single party but that all his attempts had been fruitless - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
