Turkey's leading trade unions on Saturday criticized as insufficient a series of economic reforms to drag the country out of a severe economic crisis during which the currency plunged against the dollar.
"This program does not bring any contribution to laborers and is far from resolving the country's problems," Bayram Meral, the head of Turkey's biggest trade union Turk-Is, told the Anatolia news agency.
He charged that Ankara's new economic program, presented by Economy Minister Kemal Dervis Saturday, was prepared in line with the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The conservative Hak-Is confederation also joined in the criticism.
"The program does not have any elements to prevent the unjust distribution of income, to increase employment and resolve poverty. It is only a program of hopes," Hak-Is chairman Salim Uslu said.
The chairman of the left-wing DISK confederation, Suleyman Celebi, on the other hand, blasted bureaucrats for drawing up the reforms without taking into account the views of non-governmental organizations.
Businessmen, on the other hand, gave a cautious and cool response to the program, which principally aims to cut public spending and pull Turkey out of negative growth by the second half of the year.
The head of the Turkish chambers of commerce and commodity exchanges federation TOBB, applauded the program’s emphasis on structural reforms, but noted that there were few details on issues such as foreign aid and privatization.
"In its current form, the program meets our expectations on the state transparency and restructuring efforts. But it is obvious that it does not meet our targets from an economic perspective," Fuat Miras said.
The head of the Ankara trade chamber, Sinan Aygun, meanwhile countered that the program, which took more than 50 days to prepare, was not fulfilling urgent needs.
"It is only a master program consisting of wishes. The lack of any concrete measures for tomorrow (Sunday) morning means that the financial handicap will continue," Aygun said.
He also cast doubt as to whether Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's three-part coalition would abide by the program to the end.
The new program became necessary after Turkey floated the lira in February to contain a heavy cash crunch, breaking the backbone of an IMF-backed disinflation program.
The decision resulted the in the lira losing some 47 percent against the dollar, price hikes on basic goods, and rising inflation.
For the past week, disgruntled traders have staged massive demonstrations across the country to protest the government's handling of the economic crisis – ANKARA (AFP)
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