The government crisis in Turkey has been smoldering for weeks. Now, pressure is mounting on ailing Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit to resign after more than 25 cabinet and party colleagues demanding early elections resigned on Monday and Tuesday.

Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP) has now lost its status as the largest party both in parliament and in the fragile three-party coalition.

Opposition parties have been calling for new elections ever since Ecevit became ill over two months ago. He has firmly refused to inform parliament of the official diagnosis, although there are reports of Parkinson’s disease or a nerve illness.

The Prime Minister has not been in his office since the beginning of May. He occasionally relays a message from his sick room at home, most recently that he has the situation under control.

"In my whole life, I have never been forced to resign," he let the public know.

"Essential" that Turkey join the EU

But Ecevit apparantly doesn’t have his government under control. Even deputy premier Hüsametin Özkan, Ecevit's closest aide, handed in his resignation on Monday.

"Özkan was the glue that held this coalition government together," said Mesut Yilmaz, the head of Motherland, the junion party in Ecevit’s three-party coalition. He has also resigned.

The coalition government has run out of common ground. Many reforms were only pushed through with the support of opposition parties. But more key reforms, such as the abolition of the death penalty and increasing the rights of Kurds, are necessary to bring Turkey closer to European Union membership.

Cevlet Bahceli, head of his rightist Nationalist Action Party (MHP) coalition partner, has called for a special session of parliament to decide on new elections in November, which he said would show "the will of the people".

"There will be a new parliament and a new government. It will be capable of taking steps for EU membership," Bahceli said.

However, Yilmaz says this would be too late to put together a reform program for the EU summit in December. The EU has indicated it would begin official membership negotiations at that time.

Yilmaz said it is "essential" to use this opportunity: "In my opinion, we owe this to the next generation."

National elections are not officially scheduled until April 2004.

Financial straits

The political turmoil is also weakening recovery from the worst recession to hit Turkey since 1945. The crisis is putting pressure on the Turkish currency, the lira, which hit a record low on Tuesday before recovering somewhat.

Many analysts fear a politically unstable government could threaten the future of a $16 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program. The IMF urged its biggest debtor to stick to implementing the plan many fear could be derailed by political uncertainty. .

The plan was drawn up to tackle two major financial crises. Its loans were topped up after an unstable banking system triggered crises in November 2000 and February 2001.

The United States has pressed hard in the past for support for its key Muslim ally on the edge of the Middle East. Washington needs a stable Turkey to help in its "war on terror".

But loan repayments are already pushing Ankara to the limit. The IMF said it would go ahead with a progress review of the program this week. It is unclear what political lineup Turkey Desk chief Juha Kahkonen will find in Ankara on Thursday.