He who clears the mines, tills land

Hours after opposition parties called on the president to act responsibly concerning the controversial law on clearing landmines along the border with Syria and utilizing the land for agriculture, President Abdullah Gül approved the legislation late Tuesday.

The law allows foreign companies to lease the land for 44 years in return for clearing the mines. The debate around the law has stirred nationalist feelings and the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, has announced its intention to appeal the law at the country’s top Constitutional Court.

Gül, who met Wednesday with far-right Grand Unity Party, or BBP, leader Yalçın Topçu, said: "I am not acting in a populist fashion. I saw that my signature was necessary," he said, according to the BBP leader.

At his party’s group meeting Tuesday, CHP leader Deniz Baykal said the president was facing a key test. "We expect Mr. President to display a behavior that suits him and the Turkish Republic," Baykal told his deputies. Gül was elected in 2007, before which he served both as prime minister and foreign minister in consecutive AKP governments.

In defiance of the opposition, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defended the bill and accused opposition Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, which argues the law will open the way for Israeli companies to win the tender, of signing secret deals with Israel during the tenure of the 57th government when the MHP was a coalition partner.

In an address to MHP deputies, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli said Erdoğan’s claims were a lie. "I want to clearly say there was no secret deal signed with Israel, and I invite Erdoğan to be honest," he said.

The landmine bill occupied Parliament’s agenda for most of May, with the passage only being secured due to ruling Justice and Development Party’s, or AKP, support despite serious opposition.

The new law enables foreign companies to bid to de-mine Turkey's border with Syria in return for rights to the land for up to 44 years.

As a party to the international Ottawa Convention, Turkey is required to clear all landmines on its borders by 2014. The country's borders with Greece, Bulgaria and Georgia are already clear of mines and Turkey has been looking for the best option to do the same on the Syrian border since 2002. The new law will see the removal of the more than half a million mines laid in the 1950s along 510 kilometers of its border with Syria by 2014. As a result of the opposition parties' strong resistance to the law, the government had to modify the draft law and introduced two new options for the de-mining process.

The revised law gives first option to clear the mines to the Defense Ministry, which could cooperate with NATO’s procurement agency, NAMSA. If NAMSA does not undertake the task, then the Finance Ministry can open a tender. The last option is introducing the build-operate-transfer model for the clearance of the mines in return for leasing the region to the local or foreign contractor for 44 years.

During the session, the opposition argued that the government was aiming to give the job to Israeli companies, as they were the only international firms interested in winning the tender.

Political parties outside of Parliament were equally scathing in their remarks against Gül’s approval of the bill.

Center-right Motherland Party, or ANAVATAN, leader Salih Uzun criticized Gül for approving the bill so quickly. "I see it as his efforts to speed up the process so the public doesn’t realize what’s happening," he said.



Opposition unhappy

BBP leader Yalçın Topçu said the president ignored the public will by approving the bill, calling on the CHP to appeal it in the top court. Conservative Saadet (Felicity) Party deputy leader Temel Karamollaoğlu said the passage of the law did not necessarily mean the de-mining tender would go to Israel, adding that they hoped the de-mining tender would not go to a firm or a country that could cause problems.

Center-right Democrat Party, or DP deputy leader Aytun Çıray said the law showed the government’s promises to improve people’s lives in the Southeast were untrue.