Turkey's Political Landscape Changing

A day after his resignation, Turkey's popular former foreign minister announced Friday the creation of a new political party aimed at toppling the ailing prime minister and pressing for European Union membership.

Speaking just about an hour after Ismail Cem's announcement, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that he would not resign and added that he was naming his close ally, Sukru Sina Gurel, to replace Cem as foreign minister.

"At this stage, I am on top of my duties, I am obligated to be," Ecevit said in an interview on private NTV television.

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.

Cem said his new political party would be pro-Western and based on social democratic principles.

"Turkey needs an effective administration," Cem said. "Our party will take the lead in a new social unity ... to renew Turkey."

Cem also said that the party would be dedicated to carrying out reforms aimed at reaching Turkey's goal of membership in the European Union.

"A key element of our program will be to make Turkey a member of the European Union, to complete the requirements," Cem said. "Turkey must not miss this chance. We are determined to take the necessary measures."

He said the movement would include economy minister Kemal Dervis and former Deputy Premier Husamettin Ozkan.

Cem, who stepped down Thursday, was the seventh and most prominent Cabinet member to resign this week, dealing the most serious blow yet to the Ecevit's government. Dozens of legislators have also left Ecevit's Democratic Left Party in a mass mutiny that calls into question whether the government can survive much longer.

Cem and Dervis are two of the country's most popular politicians and the new party would pose an enormous challenge to Ecevit's already teetering administration.

The resignations, which began Monday, came as Ecevit's health has deteriorated and his coalition members began bickering over EU-oriented reforms, such as abolishing the death penalty and granting minority Kurds greater rights.

"The government has fallen to a position of not being able to govern because of infighting," Cem said.

Political instability has hampered the country's economic recovery program as financial markets lost confidence with the coalition partners.

In another blow to the coalition government, Dervis also submitted his resignation 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 at the urging of Ecevit and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

Gurel, who is also deputy prime minister, said Friday the government would maintain its economic recovery program at any cost and chided Dervis for his brief resignation.

Ecevit had reportedly asked Dervis to resign amid allegations that he was considering joining Cem in forming the new party. Dervis, who is the architect of Turkey's economic recovery program, is considered crucial to Turkey's efforts to recover from an economic crisis that has seen 2 million layoffs.

Both of Ecevit's partners in the three-party coalition government have called for early elections in either September or November.

Cem is popular in Europe and Washington and was key in forming closer Turkish ties with traditional rival Greece.

Both he and Dervis, however, are inexperienced in the rough waters of Turkish politics, something that Ozkan, who was for years Ecevit's right-hand man, would be expected to help navigate.