Baykal skipping socialist congress in Athens

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) will not attend the 23rd Congress of the Socialist International (SI) beginning in Athens, Greece today. After hearing that a number of SI member countries would take an initiative against the CHP at the gathering, the party's administration sent Deputy Chairman Onur Oymen to Athens to hold contacts and to learn more. But when the CHP reportedly failed to get reassurances from SI President and Greek opposition leader George Papandreou, to whom Oymen conveyed Baykal's message, Baykal decided not to go. Speaking to Milliyet, Oymen said, "The CHP doesn't have a problem with the SI, but we won't go there due to its views on Turkey's problems. We have to see the SI's leanings more clearly."