The co-chairman of the Greens in the European Parliament and one of the most influential politicians in today's Europe, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, has said it was “ridiculous” to ask for a new constitution before the upcoming general elections in Turkey.

In a veiled criticism of the Republican People's Party (CHP) leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who is pushing for a new constitution before elections, which will probably be held in May or June, the veteran European politician said it was impossible to make a constitution in such a short time. Arguing that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan no longer has an EU agenda, Bendit said the CHP is still living in the 1930s.At a press conference in the European Parliament together with the co-chairwoman of the Greens, Rebecca Harms, and the co-chairwoman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee Delegation, Hélène Flautre, Cohn-Bendit spoke about the group meeting the Greens were planning to have in İstanbul just as they did in October 2004 before the crucial December summit that decided on whether to start accession talks with Turkey. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is expected to attend the meeting together with Martti Ahtisaari, former Finnish president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The meeting is scheduled to be held on Nov. 1-2.Cohn-Bendit, the leader of the Revolutionary Struggle in 1968, criticized Prime Minister Erdoğan and the CHP, praised President Abdullah Gül and voiced his cautious optimism about the new leader of the CHP, Kılıçdaroğlu.Criticizing the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) for not doing enough to soothe the concerns of secularists in Turkey, Bendit said Erdoğan should show they could be religious Muslims without being a threat to secularists. Stressing that he does not believe the AK Party has a hidden agenda, Bendit said, however, that what he missed in Erdoğan was his clear position on the separation of religion and state.In a strong claim, Cohn-Bendit said Erdoğan no longer had an EU agenda, but praised President Gül as the architect of the EU process. “Gül is very clear on many issues compared to Erdoğan. There is a difference between the two. Gül is more liberal and still attached to the EU. The EU process was Gül's masterpiece when he was foreign minister,” Cohn-Bendit said.CHP lives in 1930s, Kılıçdaroğlu more open than his partyStrongly criticizing the CHP for “still living in the 1930s” and being very nationalistic, Bendit said Kılıçdaroğlu was more open than his own party. “Kılıçdaroğlu understands very well that the CHP's nationalist rhetoric and its anti-EU position are a dead-end. The CHP should be left-liberal, but they are nationalist, and that is the problem” Cohn-Bendit said, adding that he did not know Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu in person but that his friend, Yaşar Kemal, had told him that he was very open. Bendit argued that the “yes, but” approach was the right one in the referendum and that Kemal also had the “yes, but” attitude.Drawing attention to the gigantic task of reforming the CHP, Cohn-Bendit said if Kılıçdaroğlu could start an evolutionary process and in the end became successful, this would be revolutionary for a party like the CHP. “The problem in Turkey is the opposition. The opposition should not try to keep Turkey in the 1920s, the 1930s,” he said.Anti-Semitism has been replaced by IslamophobiaThe leader of the Greens said he was very concerned about the rise of the far right in Europe and stressed that he agrees with the diagnosis that anti-Semitism has now been replaced by Islamophobia. However, Cohn-Bendit also said he was shocked to learn about attacks on several art galleries in İstanbul's Tophane neighborhood.  07 October 2010, ThursdaySELÇUK GÜLTAŞLI  BRUSSELS