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Turkey's foreign minister to quit
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said on Wednesday he has decided to resign from the government and the Democratic Left party of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. A major figure in the government and in Turkish politics, Cem told CNN Turk he would step down, bringing the number of ministers who have quit Ecevit's troubled government to at least six during the past week. CNN's Istanbul Bureau Chief Jane Arraf said the resignation was another major blow for Ecevit trying to keep a crumbling government in power. "Cem has decided to resign, it is just a matter of a short time before he makes an official statement," she added. The crisis escalated when Deputy PM Husamettin Ozkan resigned after Ecevit refused to stand down as requested amid concerns for his ability to continue. Ecevit has been absent from mainstream political business for the past two months, either in hospital or recovering at home from a series of ailments. During his absence the country's stock markets and currency have collapsed.
Ozkan was followed by at least another four ministers and about 30 party members. Cem is expected to take more deputies with him. Ecevit was already coming under increasing pressure on Wednesday and he acknowledged for the first time that early polls may be possible as a result of splits in his three-party government. "Maybe the three (coalition) party leaders will make clear an election date. This might not be April 2004, but a date brought forward," Ecevit was quoted as saying by Fikret Bila, a columnist close to the prime minister, in Milliyet newspaper, Reuters news agency reported. The newspaper went on to quote Ecevit as saying: "I think that elections will be problematic from an economic point of view. But if it becomes a necessity, we have to oblige." Ecevit, 77, also came under pressure from within his own party. Nine deputies of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) called on the ailing Ecevit on Wednesday to hold an emergency congress of the party. Also nationalist legislators announced on Wednesday that they had gathered enough signatures to reconvene parliament on September 1 to vote on whether to hold new elections in November. Ecevit has reshuffled his cabinet to replace three of the ministers who quit. "The coalition is breaking up, its leading member, the DSP, is fragmenting and Turkey appears to be heading towards early elections that threaten the implementation of the IMF programme," Philip Poole, head of emerging markets at investment bank ING, told Reuters. Although the illnesses spurred calls for him to resign, and his government appeared virtually paralysed, the prime minister has so far remained defiant. "At this point, (Ecevit) does not consider resigning nor going to early elections," opposition leader Tansu Ciller said on Tuesday after meeting Ecevit. The crisis comes at a critical time for Turkey. The government is trying to balance massive debts, including $31 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund, and unemployment stands at two million. Turkey is also under pressure from the European Union to carry out reforms such as outlawing capital punishment and granting cultural rights to Kurds. Opposition parties and Ecevit's coalition partners insist that early elections are the only option left now that the government is on the verge of collapse. Mesut Yilmaz, leader of the centre-right Motherland Party, has also called for early elections. "We should form a new government in order to realise EU reforms before December," Yilmaz said. "I think we owe this to next generations, if we can't make it until December, it will cost the happiness and welfare of at least one generation." |
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Turkish government faces collapse
July 9, 2002 Political fears rock Turkish lira July 9, 2002 Resignations hit Turkey government July 8, 2002 I will not resign, says Ecevit July 7, 2002 Turkish early elections ruled out July 1, 2002 Ecevit sparks alarm with poll talk June 28, 2002 RELATED SITE: Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
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