Dams & Deficits

Turkey's Premier Adnan Menderes loves dams. He considers anybody who criticizes his dams an enemy and a saboteur.

Last year critics pointed out that Menderes had plunged so heavily on new dams, plus roads, harbors and factories, that Turkey had nothing left over to make the economy run. Prices soared, people went hungry, factories came to a standstill. But dams and beet-sugar factories planted in Turkey's hinterlands meant votes among the farmers, who make up 80% of the electorate, and Menderes hated to give them up. Instead, he hoped for more money--$300 million of it--from the U.S., but did not get it. It took a rebellion in his own party last fall before Menderes agreed to a program of economic reform which would balance the budget and limit new investment to feasible projects already started.

Lobsters & Kebab. Last week Premier Menderes demonstrated that his heart is still with dams. For the dedication of the big Seyhan power-irrigation dam in southeast Turkey near fertile Adana, and a new bridge across the upper Euphrates, he organized a huge celebration attended by President Celal Bayar, most of Menderes' 469 Democratic Party Deputies, and 5,000 other notables. A carload of fresh lobsters was shipped in from the Bosporus, and 1,200 lambs were slaughtered for a huge kebab feast. Pointedly, the 66 Deputies of the opposition parties boycotted the ceremonies, and Menderes seized the occasion to belabor his critics. "It is as sad as it is ridiculous," he cried, "that the so-called opposition members . . . are going to every inch of the country for the purpose of causing trouble without bothering to turn and look at even one single installation in the places they visit."

The thin-skinned Premier turned his attack on his newspaper critics (most of Turkey's press). "They are doing everything to cause crisis. They have tried to reduce the value of our money and to decrease our political authority both in and out of the country. These people want revolution. In their speeches, they say that they are going to take over the country soon. That is terrorism."

Menderes suggested that the remedy is to remove the parliamentary immunity of "slanderers," has talked of banning political meetings except immediately before elections. "If the laws are not sufficient, we shall enact new laws," cried Menderes.

Hitler Built More. Opposition leaders expected new repressive legislation, which would antagonize Istanbul's urban sophisticates but would insure Menderes' hold on the countryside. But though threatened, his opponents were not cowed. Snapped Osman Bolukbasi, leader of one opposition party, "Hitler built many times more dams, bridges and harbors than Mr. Menderes, and still Hitler fell."

The U.S., also waiting to see if Menderes performed on his promises of reform, last week granted Turkey a new loan of $25 million, but made clear that the money would be dealt out slowly unless Menderes pursues his mended ways.

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