ANKARA, July 12: Turkey’s ailing Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Friday he will remain at the helm of his tattered coalition and again rejected calls for early elections despite a direct challenge from his former foreign minister who announced a brand- new party.

A day after resigning from his post, Ismail Cem held a news conference here to announce the formation of the party along with two other political heavyweights: Ecevit’s former deputy Husamettin Ozkan and Economy Minister Kemal Dervis.

“The government has become a structure unable to take the steps that Turkey needs,” Cem, 62, said.

“We are forming our new party in a bid to embrace all of Turkey in a renewal,” he said.

But 77-year-old Ecevit, who has been away from his office since May due to a string of health problems, dismissed Cem’s party as “nothing serious” and said that he had no immediate plans to quit either the government or his Democratic Left Party (DSP).

“I am at the helm... I have to stay,” he said despite a wave of resignations from members of his party.

“If the three coalition parties shut themselves off to internal and external provocations, we can and must continue until the end of our mandate” in 2004, Ecevit added.

But he also admitted that he may consider quitting if the three-party coalition loses a majority in parliament as a result of the resignations, which would leave it vulnerable to censure motions.

The DSP was hit by fresh resignations on Friday, which brought to 43 the number of defectors, including seven ministers, who quit in protest at Ecevit’s refusal to step down.

The party now fell one seat behind the main opposition True Path Party (DYP), but the government still has 291 seats in the 550-seat parliament.

Ecevit also told NTV that he opposed bringing elections forward from 2004 because it would distract Turkey’s leadership at a time when it is focussed on overcoming a deep economic crisis and a deadlock over key reforms required under Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

But the prime minister’s coalition partners have already sided with the opposition in their calls for snap polls, with the MHP launching parliamentary procedures for elections in November.

“I want (MHP leader Devlet) Bahceli to give up his early election project,” Ecevit said.

However, Bahceli appeared unyielding. “We believe elections must be brought forward for stability in Turkey,” he was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying.

Despite the immense pressure and his absence from office, Ecevit has desperately tried to keep the government running and has named new ministers to vacant posts.

The latest replacement was Sukru Sina Gurel, a hawkish eurosceptic, who became foreign minister instead of Cem, raising concerns over Ankara’s already struggling EU bid.—AFP