Turkey's PM misses key meeting

Last week Ecevit's aides insisted he would be at Friday's meeting

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's missed a crucial meeting on Friday, fuelling calls for him to resign and sparking a dip in the markets -- but his spokesman said his health remained good.

"The prime minister's general state is very healthy but a period of rest would be beneficial," spokesman Cem Avci told reporters outside the 77-year-old leader's house in Ankara on Friday.

Turkey's stock market slid 3.21 percent after, on doctors' advice, Ecevit pulled out of a meeting of party leaders called by the president to discuss Turkey's European Union ambitions. The Turkish lira and stocks also fell.

Opposition parties, and even some members of Ecevit's three-party coalition, have already called for him to step down. Tansu Ciller, leader of the largest opposition party in parliament, refused to attend Friday's meeting in Ecevit's absence.

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Fears have been expressed all week that Turkey could lurch into crisis if its ailing PM, not seen in public for 10 days, missed Friday's meeting.

Analysts said that if Ecevit failed to show up, pressure for him to step down could split the government's three-party coalition struggling to implement a $16 billion IMF programme to drag the country out of recession.

"Certainly, like everyone, Bulent will step down one day, but that day is not today," the leader's wife, Rahsan, herself a politician, was quoted by Hurriyet daily as saying.

It was the second time in as many weeks that Ecevit -- who was in hospital twice last month and who has not left home for 10 days since he was discharged -- failed to attend a key meeting due to his health.

"There's a government vacuum in Turkey.... Without solving the government problem, we can't solve our other problems," Ciller told The Associated Press. She called for the formation of a caretaker government, led by her party, to take the country to autumn polls.

But the three parties that make up Ecevit's coalition have largely stood by the premier, whose personal authority has been key to holding the squabbling coalition together.

Hakan Tartan, a senior lawmaker from Ecevit's Democratic Left Party, insisted on Friday that the premier was capable of holding on to power.

Ecevit "will withdraw if he knows he is unable to perform his duties," Tartan told AP.

At the present "there is no situation preventing the prime minister from working," he added.

At the meeting, Ecevit's party was represented by its general secretary, Hasan Gulay.

Ecevit, widely credited with holding together Muslim Turkey's pro-Western government, said earlier this week he would attend the summit at the presidential palace.

'Immoral' debate

Ecevit suffers from a number of ailments, including a neurological condition, circulatory problems, a spinal disorder and intestinal complaints.

Turkish newspapers have speculated that Ecevit has Parkinson's disease and myasthenia gravis, a nerve disease characterised by weakness and muscle fatigue. The premier has neither confirmed nor denied those reports.

The mass-circulation Sabah newspaper, in an open letter, urged: "Don't surrender Turkey to a political vacuum and uncertainty. Take the step history expects of you and cede the office you were entrusted with."

Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli said on Sunday he found the debate over Ecevit's health "politically immoral."

"The prime minister is continuing his work. For us it is not important where he works. There is no vacuum of power in Turkey," Bahceli said.

Turkey became a candidate for EU membership in 1999 but has yet to implement a long list of economic, political and human rights reforms to begin accession talks.

Parliament must also pass a swathe of laws to fulfil promises to the IMF before adjourning for summer recess in July.