Turkey’s Premier Resists Resignation

With his coalition government in tatters, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz ignored demands Saturday for his resignation.

But Yilmaz only slowed down a chain of events that appears headed for another round of political bargaining to try to piece together a new government.

“Turkey never saw such dirty political games,” said Imren Aykut, a Cabinet minister and deputy chairwoman of Yilmaz’s Motherland Party.

A government collapse would probably give the Islamic Welfare Party another shot at power.

Welfare led December elections but was muscled out by an alliance between Yilmaz and former Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, who pulled her True Path Party out of the 2-month-old government coalition Friday.

The latest crisis has even placed Ciller and Welfare on the same side, calling for Yilmaz to step down.

It was not clear if Yilmaz will submit his resignation Monday after he returns to Ankara from southeastern Turkey. But Welfare appears determined to bring him down.

Welfare was prepared to ask for a no-confidence vote in Parliament, party officials said Friday. A court ruled earlier this month that the vote of confidence for the current coalition was taken improperly.

Ciller’s True Path Party appeared supportive of Welfare’s initiative.

The process of the no-confidence vote would take one to three weeks. Welfare and True Path votes would be sufficient to topple Yilmaz.

Ciller and Yilmaz joined forces in March, overlooking past rivalries, to form a minority coalition to block the Islamic party from power. Their alliance, however, became increasingly strained as Yilmaz backed Welfare efforts to open corruption probes of Ciller.

Welfare, which seeks an Islamic-style state, is strongly opposed by the Turkish military and others who favor Turkey’s Western-looking traditions.

But Ciller could now be willing to consider a coalition with Welfare, according to press reports. Ciller has not made any public comments about the reports.