ANKARA - Turkey's two rival conservative leaders failed yesterday to agree on a secularist alliance under the leadership of the Prime Minister designate, Mr Mesut Yilmaz.
"I did not discuss the government issue, so as not to legitimise Yilmaz's position," the Deputy Prime Minister, Ms Tansu Ciller, told reporters after 20 minutes of talks with Mr Yilmaz.
President, Mr Suleyman Demirel on Friday asked Mr Yilmaz to form a government to end months of political turmoil. The Prime Minister, Mr Necmettin Erbakan, an Islamist, resigned last week after disputes with the army over religious activism. Ms Ciller, who previously served as Turkey's first woman prime minister, says she should have been nominated for the job.