TURKEY: Turkey's economy minister,Kemal Dervis, the man international investors had come to rely on as the sole guarantor of the country's financial stability, resigned from government on Saturday.
His decision surprised nobody. He had resigned a month ago but was dissuaded when Turkey's president stepped in to warn him his move could capsize the country's chronically jittery markets.
Since then, he has continued to support a party set up last month by popular ex-foreign minister Ismail Cem. With elections due in November, many commentators hailed Cem's left-leaning New Turkey Party (YTP) as the country's best chance of preventing victory for the moderate Islamic politician Tayyip Erdogan, bugbear of Turkey's staunchly secularist army and leader of by far the most popular party in recent opinion polls.
Last Tuesday, Dervis's ambivalent stance finally pushed prime minister Bulent Ecevit to react. Accusing his economy minister of "trying to direct the course of politics", Ecevit told CNN-Turk that Dervis "must decide as soon as possible whether to resign or not."
Speaking later the same day to a businessman's conference, Dervis responded with a clear jibe at the ruling government's unwieldy mix of ultra-nationalists, leftists and liberals. "Coalitions should be founded on a shared vision, not just on a lust for power," he said.
At a Saturday press conference, Dervis stated that he would work for the creation of a coalition "on the centre-left that reflects modern social liberal theory".
Like Cem, he seems to have realised that the YTP will not be strong enough to beat Erdogan single-handed. What is unclear is how he intends to act.
There are doubts that Dervis can persuade the notoriously fractious left-wing parties to unite. So far, the biggest left-leaning party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), has refused any collaboration.
Many commentators fear Dervis could be strengthening Erdogan's hand by increasing divisions on the left. Murat Yetkin, columnist for liberal daily Radikal, believes Dervis's backing will increase any party's popularity by at least 5 per cent. "But if he joins one party, another could fail to obtain the number of votes necessary for parliamentary representation," he writes.
Dervis's and Cem's dream of left-wing unity serves only to weaken the CHP's position against Erdogan, says Ilnur Cevik, editor of the Turkish Daily News.
If Cem and Dervis succeed in uniting the left, their group stands a chance of coming top in November. If not, they may be obliged to fall back on that old chestnut of Turkish politics - collaboration across ideological lines.
One party that has expressed interest in a coalition is deputy prime minister Mesut Yilmaz's centre-right Motherland party, which risks being obliterated in November elections. With only his parliamentary immunity protecting him from charges of corruption, a coalition could save Yilmaz from prison. For Dervis, it could signal the end of idealistic notions of a "shared vision".