Turkish government faces collapse

Ecevit, centre, with deputy prime ministers Ozkhan (left) and Bahceli (right)

ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- More key Turkish officials resigned Tuesday from the prime minister's Democratic Left Party as ailing Premier Bulent Evecit attempts to keep his government afloat.

Five ministers, including deputy premier Husamettin Ozkan, have quit the party over the last two days. A total of 26 parliament members, including the five ministers, have resigned from the party so far.

But Sukru Sina Gurel, who held the Cyprus affairs portfolio, was named by Ecevit Tuesday as deputy prime minister to replace Ozkan, a sign that Ecevit is trying to hang on. Ecevit had been expected by many observers to resign Tuesday.

Meetings between Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and Economy Minister Kamal Dervis Tuesday and between those two ministers and Ecevit are expected to signal the future of the government. Ecevit is also meeting with former Prime Minister Tansu Ciller.

Ecevit, 77, has clung to power despite spending long periods in hospital and suffering from various ailments over the past two months.

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His absence led to growing frictions with his nationalist partners in the ruling coalition. The Democratic Left, the Motherland Party and the nationalists comprise the ruling coalition.

Istanbul's stock market, which already feared an early election could derail an economic recovery program, was down 0.96 percent, extending Monday's losses of 4.96 percent.

The Turkish lira sank to a record low 1.7 million against the dollar in early trading, exceeding last year's crisis low of 1.67 million lira. (Full story)

Since that crisis, which saw the country's economy shrink 9.4 percent amid mass layoffs, almost $31 billion in International Monetary Fund loans has been targeted to help the Turkish economy recover.

The resignations came after Deputy Premier Devlet Bahceli of the nationalists Sunday called for a November election to end political uncertainty stemming from Ecevit's deteriorating health. Elections are due in the spring of 2004.

The Democratic Left resignations mean the party is no longer the biggest in parliament.

Mesut Yilmaz, deputy prime minister and leader of the center-right Motherland Party, also has called for early elections.

Yilmaz said a November election would leave no time for the government to fulfill reforms to help the country's bid for European Union membership.

"We should form a new government in order to realize 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."

The nationalists have strongly opposed Ecevit's efforts to pass EU-demanded legislation that would abolish the death penalty and allow minority Kurds to teach and broadcast in Kurdish.