Turkey’s ailing Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit declared Monday that his government would stay in power until the end of its mandate in the year 2004 and pledged progress on controversial EU-demanded reforms in a bid to defuse concerns over political and economic stability.
"We were already unanimous on the government's absolute rejection to hold early elections and the need for it to remain in office until 2004. We underlined our conviction," Ecevit told reporters after talks with his two coalition partners, AFP reported.
Ecevit's ill-health, which has kept him away from office since early May, has hit financial markets hard on fears that his absence could cause political upheaval and derail an economic recovery program backed by a 16-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund. (Albawaba.com)
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