Ailing Turkish Prime Minister Mr Bulent Ecevit's ruling coalition, and perhaps his party, appeared to be disintegrating yesterday as three ministers and several deputies resigned after his right-of-centre coalition partner called for early elections.
Mr Ecevit's former right-hand man, deputy premier Mr Husamettin Ozkan, was the first to quit, leaving both the government and the Democratic Left Party (DSP) Mr Ecevit founded in the 1980s.
Mr Ozkan had been a key figure in holding the three-party coalition together through three years of turmoil over IMF-backed economic reform.
Together, the resignations amounted to a mini-rebellion in the DSP, a party dominated since its foundation by Mr Ecevit and his wife Rahsan, who is deputy head. Nine DSP deputies resigned from the party, and the state Anatolian news agency reported at least seven more would follow.
At the weekend, the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), Mr Ecevit's right-of-centre coalition partner, demanded parliament be recalled from summer recess to call elections for November.
Financial markets, which slumped yesterday, fear upheaval could derail a $16 billion IMF-backed crisis plan and hinder reforms vital to Turkey's ambition to join the EU. Turkey is the IMF's biggest debtor.
There is no clarity as to what kind of government would emerge from the November elections demanded yesterday by MHP's leader, Mr Devlet Bahceli.
"It's chaos - extreme uncertainty in the sense you don't know what's going to happen the next day or even in the next hour," said Mr Emin Ozturk, an economist.
At present, opinion polls suggest the current coalition parties could all fail to clear the 10 per cent threshold to parliament. The big winner could be the Islamist AK Party, viewed with suspicion by the powerful army. It is also unclear whether or in what form the present coalition would hold together in the run-up to elections.
Since Mr Ecevit first fell ill two months ago, bond yields have risen 20 percentage points to over 70 per cent.
Mr Ecevit insists he is recovering well from illnesses that have included spinal problems, a nervous-muscular condition and a fractured rib.