Ecevit: I Am At My Post As Prime Minister

ANKARA (A.A) - 05.07.2002 - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Friday that his stepping down from his post did not come to the agenda during yesterday's economy summit meeting.
Ecevit answered written questions of journalists through his press advisor Cem Avci.
The questions asked to the Prime Minister and his answers are as follows:
Question: Is it true that State Minister Kemal Dervis told you to ''step down'' during yesterday's economy summit? Did State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz advise you to publicly announce your health report or rest at home after giving someone your proxy?
Ecevit: My stepping down did not come to the agenda during yesterday's economy summit meeting.
Question: What kind of a picture did Dervis and economy bureaucrats draw during yesterday's summit?
Ecevit: During yesterday's summit meeting, Mr. Kemal Dervis seemed a little worried about the economy. However, the results and the picture that appeared at the end of the meeting removed his concerns. Because, all figures show that there is a rapid recovery in the economy. The inflation rate is decreasing while manufacturing industry, exportation and tourism are rapidly increasing and improving. Besides, our economy does have a great potential. This potential will rapidly grow more. Our government is taking the most sound and necessary measures to this end. The important thing is that the economy circles should not be engulfed in panic due to trivial fluctuations.
Question: You said if they want me to withdraw, they should overthrow me. Did you address your coalition partners? Number of seats of opposition parties at the parliament is not sufficient to overthrow you. How do you assess reactions about your statement.
Ecevit: It is not my problem whether or not opposition parties and some circles to have sufficient power to overthrow me.
Question: How will you overcome political uncertainty affecting the economy negatively?
Ecevit: Actually, there is not a real problem of political uncertainty. There is a government formed by three political parties having the sufficient majority at the parliament and working in harmony. Furthermore, this government has adopted a number of structural reforms. In that case, it is meaningless to talk about political uncertainty.
Question: Are you determined to remain at your office?
Ecevit: I am at my post as the prime minister. There is not need to activate the mechanism of proxy.
YILMAZ: HEALTH TEAM SHOULD MAKE A STATEMENT ABOUT ECEVIT'S HEALTH WHICH WILL RELIEVE PEOPLE
Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said on Friday that a health team should make a statement that Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit would re-start his active duties soon in order to relieve the people.
When a reporter said that the sentence he told to Prime Minister Ecevit at the leaders' summit that the prime minister should rest temporarily created a negative atmosphere and asked about his comment, Yilmaz said, ''it is not true. What I told was different. That is, a health team should make a statement that Prime Minister Ecevit will re-start his active duties soon in order to relieve the people. Because, I see that the public still has some hesitations. These hesitations should be overcome. I pointed to this. I did not propose any other thing.''
Asked how he evaluated the attitude of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges in Turkey (TOBB), Yilmaz said, ''some expectations of TOBB are also shared by some other circles. Now, we are trying to put an end to uncertainty.''