Turkey's 'presidential crisis'

President Fahri Koruturk, whose seven-year term expires on Sunday, is preparing to leave the Cankaya Palace (Turkey's White House) without formally turning over his duties to a successor.

Under the Constitution, the chairman of the Senate, Ihsan S. Caglayangil, a former foreign minister, will become acting president until Parliament elects a new president.

But prospects for an early settlement for what is referred to here as the "presidential crisis" look dim, unless a last-minute agreement is reached by the major political parties.

The crisis has continued for two weeks while Parliament has failed (15 times at this writing) to produce a candidate who could obtain the needed majority of 318 votes.

Neither the ruling Justice Party, nor the opposition Republican People's Party, commands such a majority.