New party threatens to topple Turkish coalition
Speaking after the resignation of foreign minister Ismail Cem, the prime minister said he would not resign and added that he was naming his close ally, Sukru Sina Gurel, to replace Mr Cem.
"We have to carry on until the end," he said, referring to scheduled 2004 elections. "At this stage, I am on top of my duties, I am obligated to be."
He said, however, that he would have no choice but to leave government if his coalition loses its majority in parliament. The coalition has 291 seats in the 550-member parliament, a majority of just 15.
Two more legislators resigned from Mr Ecevit's Democratic Left Party yesterday, raising to 43 the number who have stepped down. With those losses, Mr Ecevit's party has fallen from the largest in parliament to the third-largest.
The United States has been watching Turkey's political crisis closely as it considers military action against neighboring Iraq. Turkey is an important US ally and could provide bases for such an attack. The Turkish military also recently took control of international peacekeeping forces in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Mr Cem said his still unnamed political party would be pro-Western, based on social democratic principles and dedicated to carrying out reforms aimed at reaching Turkey's goal of membership in the European Union.
"Turkey needs an effective administration," Mr Cem said. "Our party will take the lead in a new social unity to renew Turkey."
He said the movement would include economy minister Kemal Dervis and former deputy premier Husamettin Ozkan.
"A key element of our programme will be to make Turkey a member of the European Union, to complete the requirements," Mr Cem said. "Turkey must not miss this chance. We are determined to take the necessary measures."
Mr Dervis said he was supporting the new political party despite serving as an independent minister in Mr Ecevit's government, reported private NTV and CNBC-E television.
Mr Cem, who stepped down on Thursday, was the seventh and most prominent cabinet member to resign this week, dealing the most serious blow yet to Mr Ecevit's government.
Dozens of legislators have also left Mr Ecevit's Democratic Left Party in a mass mutiny that calls into questions whether the government can survive much longer.
Mr Cem and Mr Dervis are two of the country's most popular politicians and the new party would pose an enormous challenge to Mr Ecevit's already teetering administration.
The resignations, which began on Monday, came as Mr Ecevit's health deteriorated and his coalition members began bickering over EU-oriented reforms, such as abolishing the death penalty and granting minority Kurds greater rights. Political instability has hampered Turkey's the country's economic recovery programme as financial markets lose confidence in the coalition partners.
In another blow to the coalition government, Mr Dervis also resigned on Thursday, a move that sent the Turkish lira tumbling to an all-time low of over
1.7 million to the dollar. He later withdrew his resignation, apparently to avoid a further economic collapse.
Mr Dervis, the architect of Turkey's economic recovery program, is considered crucial to Turkey's efforts to recover from an economic crisis that has seen two million layoffs. It appeared yesterday he would keep his job even after joining the new party.
Mr Gurel, who is also deputy prime minister, said yesterday the government would maintain its economic recovery program at any cost and chided Dervis for his brief resignation.
Both of Mr Ecevit's partners in the three-party coalition government have called for early elections in September or November. The nationalist wing has already collected enough signatures to recall parliament in September to vote on early elections for November. Nationalists are strongly opposed to EU reforms.
"If we can find a formula on the EU among the coalition partners, maybe there will be no need for early elections," Mr Ecevit said.
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