Toskay: Early Elections Would Hurt Turkish Economy

ANKARA (A.A) - 20.05.2002 - State Minister Tunca Toskay told reporters that having early elections would hurt the Turkish economy, after a meeting with IMF Turkey Desk Chief Juhan Kahkonen.
One reporter said that although coalition parties' leaders do not support an early election, State Minister Kemal Dervis thinks that an early election would not affect economy. Toskay responded by saying that he believed holding early elections would hurt the Turkish economy.
''There's an election tradition in Turkey and it always has an economic cost,'' he continued. ''All economic actors know the society's reflex to elections and they act accordingly. And we think that this would not have a good impact on economy. This tradition could not have changed in three months, this is against sociology.''
Commenting on the increase in foreign exchange rates caused by the illness of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, Toskay said he would not make any speculations on that matter.