When the Ottoman empire of the mid-19th century started coming apart at the seams, Russia's Czar Nicholas I memorably dubbed it the "sick man" of Europe. Last week, the empire's successor, Turkey, reeled in political chaos as its own sick man, Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit who suffers from a host of ailments linked to a chronic neurological disease stubbornly clung to power.
With Ecevit's three-party coalition teetering on the brink of collapse, his Democratic Left Party (D.S.P.) essentially split in two and parliament in recess, Ecevit, 77, defied a growing chorus of demands that he step...
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