ANKARA, July 20: In a stunning about-face, Turkey’s embattled Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Saturday said he wanted to delay elections until at least next year, once more throwing the country into political crisis.

“Our preference is that polls are not held this year but next year. And even the best (choice) is to leave elections to (their scheduled time in) April 2004,” he said after meeting members of his Democratic Left Party (DSP).

But his two coalition partners, the far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and the centre-right Motherland Party (ANAP) immediately shot down the prime minister’s proposal and said they backed the early vote.

Ecevit’s intentions — under duress he agreed to a November poll last Tuesday — are yet another change of heart which are unlikely to inspire confidence in Turkey.

It has lurched from crisis to crisis recently, with both the stock market and the Turkish currency the lira taking a hammering.

The 77-year-old veteran has opposed early polls ever since turmoil erupted in May owing to his failing health and a government rift over basic democratic reforms, needed if Turkey is to join the EU.

Ecevit argues that snap polls would actually delay the EU-demanded reforms and damage billions of dollars in IMF-backed loans aimed at spurring economic recovery.

But the leader of the nationalist MHP said Turkey had reached the point of no return regarding a vote.

“The election date is clear. The process has started and there cannot be a return from it,” Devlet Bahceli said quoted by Anatolia news agency. The MHP was the one to propose November elections in the first place.

And ANAP chairman Mesut Yilmaz said early polls are “the answer they (the DSP) are going to receive from us.”

Instead of delaying elections, the parliament should come back from recess and pass democracy reforms urgently needed under Turkey’s struggling bid to join the European Union before going to polls, Yilmaz said.

Ecevit bowed to pressure from his partners and the opposition when the three coalition leaders announced an agreement to call snap polls on November 3 to end the political and economic uncertainty.

On several occasions since then, however, Ecevit — whose popularity has plummeted as the economic and political crisis has mounted — has made it clear that he was still against elections, but was forced to comply with the demand of his partners.

On Saturday, he again added fuel to the smoldering political fire.

“Under a decision we took today, our (parliamentary) group managers will meet with administrators from other parties to define in detail their wishes on an election date,” Ecevit told reporters on Saturday.

“In this way we think we will reach a decision with a more appropriate solution from a democratic point of view,” he added.

Turkey’s battered financial markets have been cheered over the prospect of the polls, posting massive gains during the past week.

Ecevit’s insistence not to step down despite his ill health, which has essentially kept him away from his desk since early May, has led to his party, once the strongest force in parliament, dropping to fourth place, and his coalition losing its majority.

Brushing aside the prime minister’s demand to delay the polls, Yilmaz, who oversees EU affairs, said a draft package of democracy reforms had been prepared for a vote.

Yilmaz said he aimed at “finalizing the package in parliament with the most comprehensive compromise possible before the decision for early elections” is ratified by legislators.

The MHP has blocked efforts to boost Turkey’s EU bid, blocking key European norms such as the abolition of the death penalty and a demand for cultural freedoms for the Kurdish minority, leaving its two partners counting on opposition support.—AFP