ANKARA, July 20 (Reuters) - A new Islamist party was proclaimed in Turkey on Friday from the ruins of a party banned last month as subversive and immediately appealed for support from the "victims" of the country's economic crisis.
Recai Kutan, who was head of the Virtue Party banned by the constitutional court, declared the formation of a party called Saadet, a word with Arabic roots that means happiness. He said the Turkish people would soon bring Saadet to power as a single-party government.
Saadet, representing the more conservative wing of Virtue, will vie with a "modernist" party to be formed soon for the allegiance of about 100 parliamentary deputies left as independents following the ban. Virtue was the main opposition party in the 550-seat parliament.
"This party is for the people who are victims of the bad economic situation, people who have lost their jobs, who have been made poor, for workers, civil servants and farmers," Kutan said.
He said the party would protect religious rights but not challenge the secularist principles of the state. At the same time, he said, Saadet would seek to replace the present constitution entirely to guarantee broader human rights.
He made it clear he sought mass support in a crisis that has slashed the country's currency by a half and put hundreds of thousands out of work. He made no reference to the $15.7 billion IMF-backed financial rescue programme that is the focus of debate in Turkey at the moment.
DEEP IN CRISIS
"While our people and our country are deep in crisis, we cannot stand aside with the psychology of defeat. With this feeling of responsibility, we are establishing Saadet, with a new team and a new a spirit."
"We will serve our people and open our doors to all," he told supporters. The largely subdued meeting occasionally erupted in chants of "Kutan-Prime Minister."
The formation of Saadet is not expected to upset in any way the fundamental balance of power in parliament or in the governing three-party coalition. There had been fears many "homeless" Virtue deputies would turn to government parties, upsetting a delicate balance, but this does not appear to have happened.
Saadet, which must now be registered with the interior ministry, is expected to be more closely under the sway of Necmettin Erbakan, banned from politics after another Islamist predecessor, Welfare, was outlawed in 1998 in a clampdown on political Islam spearheaded by the powerful military.
Erbakan, a firebrand speaker regarded as the founder of modern political Islam in Turkey, led a government for almost a year until it was eased from power in 1997 by a coalition of the military and business interests.
The Constitutional Court issued a ruling on Thursday making it possible for former Istanbul Mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan to return to politics. He is likely to head a new modernist party, divorced from Erbakan, targeting the broad centre-right.
07:01 07-20-01
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