Turkish Leader Wins Vote of Confidence, Faces Challenges

Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller won a new vote of confidence in her leadership of the conservative True Path Party on Saturday, a rare moment of unity for a country deeply worried about its political and economic stability.

More than 92% of 1,134 True Path Party delegates at a party congress in the Turkish capital, Ankara, voted for Ciller, while a virtually unknown last-minute rival took 3%.

The 47-year-old, U.S.-educated economics professor became the first female prime minister of this Muslim country in June.

“The road ahead is hard and long. But we are determined and brave. We will not run away. We will serve the country and stop terror,” Ciller said to party delegates gathered in a sports hall.

But the gravity of the situation facing this nation of 60 million people on the crossroads of the Balkans and the Middle East was driven home Saturday by news that 10 more Turkish soldiers and 27 Kurdish guerrillas were killed in one battle in southeast Turkey.

“Ethnic differences should be a source of cultural richness. But we will never allow them to become political differences. We will not allow the division of the country,” said Ciller as delegates chanted curses against the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

The delegates who backed Ciller were in part motivated by concerns that their party is slipping in opinion polls.

If the senior coalition partner’s share of the vote in national municipal elections next March falls too far, pressure could mount for new general elections well before the due date in 1996.

No one party now seems able to win the all-out victory that Turkey needs for a stable government.

Ciller became the True Path Party leader during the realignments that followed the death of President Turgut Ozal in April.

But an initial wave of optimism has faded, and diplomats are now divided on her prospects.

Some see her as a lame duck who cannot organize her agenda; others believe that she is a determined leader who may yet turn the country around.

Economic figures are contradictory. On the one hand, GNP growth is steaming ahead at an annual 9% in 1993 on top of an average 5% in the last decade.

On the other, the trade balance has plunged sharply into the red after years of seesawing imbalances. Inflation is at an annual 67%, and on the rise.