TUSIAD head Yalcindag: Changing Turkey's "road map" now would be political suicide

Yalcindag's comments were largely in reference to Turkey's EU plans; she noted that even if a coalition government were to emerge from the upcoming general elections, that no one would want to alter the road map that had Turkey heading towards the EU, and which placed much importance on the current economic stability in the country. Said Yalcindag "Turkey has achieved important successes with both the IMF and the EU. And now the Turkish people expect that this road will be followed further. Which is why, no matter what kind of government emerges from the ballot boxes, no one will want to turn away from the path we are on. It would be political suicide." 
  
Yalcindag also noted some of the economic successes achieved over the past 4-5 years, commenting that it would be "unfair not to give the administration credit for the positive tableau we see before us." Some of the points Yalcindag noted were in particular the reduction of inflation, and the annual growth of the economy, as well as the successful management of the IMF program.
 
With regards to the upcoming 2007 presidential and general elections in Turkey, Yalcindag expressed confidence that economic growth and stability would continue, noting however that growth would probably not "exceed 5% this year" due to the elections. The TUSIAD leader also expressed no worries over instability due to the elections, underlining that "no one would want to change the current road map Turkey finds itself on." Yalcindag also underlined that TUSIAD viewed a single party power in Ankara more positively than a coalition government, but noted that whatever emerged from the ballot boxes had to be respected in a democracy.