A Clash, Then A Crash

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who cultivates the common touch, has his car stop at traffic lights. He still found himself involved in a devastating collision last week, a sudden political smash-up with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit—over corruption and banking reform—that has left the International Monetary Fund's inflation-cutting program for the country a twisted wreck, the lira in free fall and Turkey's 66 million people facing even more inflation. By week's end both officials, chastened, had left the crash scene to attend international gatherings.

The crisis is both financial and political, touched off during a meeting last Monday of...