DİSK to form party

İZMİR - Turkish Daily News

Thursday, June 29, 2006


The “December 10 Movement” initiated by the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers' Unions (DİSK) will be transformed into a political party, reports said on Tuesday.
Former DİSK President Rıdvan Budak said the leader of the new party would be Professor Burhan Şenatalar, who is currently acting as the spokesman of the movement.
The December 10 Movement has held 14 meetings around the country in the past year, arguing that the political left is the alternative to the right and that their movement would not be identified by its leader but by its adherents. Budak said Turkish politics needs to change and that any politician who can't explain how they acquired their wealth should not be a party leader.
He said women and young people would be very influential “We will introduce a new understanding and perspective. It will be a movement that will welcome people from all walks of life. We will establish the organization in September and will prepare our regulations.”
Budak also dismissed the calls for unity coming from Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Zeki Sezer and Social Democrat People's Party (SHP) leader Murat Karayalçın as insincere. “We would like the left to be unified. However, such a thing can only come about through trust. It should be based on written rules. If not, such calls for unity will be nothing more than tolerating each other during election campaigns. We are also for unity, but as things stand, such unity [as called for by the other party leaders] would not be respected.”