Who Is Indispensable?

After the fall of Ismet Inoenue's government, Turkey had a new Premier-designate last week, and on American tongues, at least, his name sounded like a gurgle. He was Suat Hayri Urguplu, 62, the son of a mufti, an ex-Cabinet minister, former Ambassador to the U.S.

(1957-60), and an independent Senator without party affiliation. Chances are that Urguplu was picked by President Cemal Guersel only as a temporary Premier while a political battle is fought out between the two real antagonists on the Turkish political scene--the Republican Party's Inoenue and the Justice Party's Suleyman Demirel, who brought Inoenue down with an opposition attack in Parliament.

In the new Cabinet, Demirel, 41, a Western-minded economist, is Deputy Premier, and his resurgent party holds ten of 22 Cabinet posts. As the political heir of the late irresponsible but popular Strongman Adnan Menderes, the Justice Party is still distrusted by the real power in Turkey, the army. Demirel wants to show that he can regain the army's confidence and that the army-backed Inoenue is not indispensable.

Perhaps not. Inoenue may well be nearing the end of his political career. But the suspicion grew last week that Inoenue had deliberately allowed himself to be forced out. With elections coming up later this year, Octogenarian Inoenue has been heavily criticized for being too soft on Cyprus, too slow in pushing national economic development. By handing his problems over to others for a few months, the old fox could hope that the new government would make a mess of things, allowing him to pick up the pieces.

Like almost everyone else these days, Inoenue was trying to make domestic political capital by playing the anti-American game. Ever since the U.S. refused to back Turkey all the way against Greece over the embittered Cyprus issue, Ismet Inoenue has demonstrated his independence from the U.S. by flirting with Russia. Of late, Inoenue-inspired newspapers have been campaigning hard to tag the U.S.-educated Demirel as a Washington stooge, obviously hoping to damage him in the forthcoming elections.

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