Bush's plan for conquering the Middle East has Turkey as a bastion to the north. It may not be a bastion for long.

Praying for early elections
After a week of crisis, as its government teetered on the brink of collapse, Turkey now looks headed for early elections. A lot is at stake. The country is the International Monetary Fund’s biggest borrower, an applicant to join the European Union, the only Muslim country in the NATO defence pact and a key strategic partner of the United States

BULENT ECEVIT finally admitted on Monday July 15th that his crumbling coalition government will not survive until the elections scheduled for April 2004. As defections from Mr Ecevit's own Democratic Left Party continued, the leader of his right-wing coalition partner, the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), declared that he would not pull out of the coalition and bring the government down but instead looked forward to elections in November. The Turkish parliament will be recalled early on September 1st to discuss the prospect of elections. Whether the government can continue even that long remains to be seen.
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