Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit rejected Wednesday calls for his government to resign over its handling of the country's current economic crisis, but he did not rule out a cabinet reshuffle, said reports.
"I believe that the search for a new government could open the door to a government crisis. That is why I am staying on duty, and I will stay," he told the parliament.
His remarks followed a joint call Tuesday by the Turkish Union of Chambers (TOBB) for the government to take responsibility for the country's serious financial woes and resign.
The call came against a background of mounting street protests, including mass demonstrations Wednesday in the capital and several other cities.
Asked by reporters whether he would make cabinet changes, Ecevit did not rule one out but said: "This is up to discussions between coalition leaders," Anatolia news agency quoted him saying.
In a radical shift from its traditional pro-government stance, the TOBB, the strongest and largest organization of the Turkish private sector, expressed a total lack of confidence in government and asked Ecevit to resign and "clear the way" for Turkey, reported the Turkish Daily News.
The Union of Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD), a group comprised of mostly Istanbul-based heavy guns of the Turkish private sector, on the other hand, declared support for the continuation of the Ecevit government, said the paper.
The TUSIAD’s support for the government, however, was as well a conditional one as the statement underlined the need for a revision in cabinet in order to boost public confidence in the ruling coalition.
The government has been pledging for weeks to introduce a radical transformation package that would cure the Turkish economy tarnished in a financial-political crisis triggered by the president and the prime minister of the country playing frisbee with a constitution book at a military-dominated National Security Council meeting in February.
The government wants to bring monthly inflation below 2 percent, which skyrocketted to over 10 percent in March because of the crisis, by the end of this year, and aims to complete work by mid-April on a new economic program for achieving this.
Economy Minister Kemal Dervis has said Turkey must first pass a package of emergency measures including restructuring state and private banks and speeding privatization, said the paper.
The TOBB statement, endorsed by some 550 heads of local chambers after a lengthy debate, underlined that since the crisis started in February the government kept on talking but not doing anything.
The statement said because the trust and confidence in the government has waned, the TOBB wanted PM Ecevit to heed their call and resign from his post immediately – Albawaba.com
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