TURKEY JUST ANY GOVERNMENT AT ALL TURKEY SEEMS TO BE IN THE 
GRIP OF A PERPETUAL CRISIS . AFTER THE ARMY TOPPLED THE 
CORRUPT, FREE-SPENDING REGIME OF PREMIER ADNAN MENDERES IN 1960 AND EXECUTED 
HIM, THE MILITARY RULED INEFFECTUALLY FOR 18 MONTHS, THEN LET CIVILIANS 
TAKE OVER . DURABLE ISMET INONU BECAME PREMIER, DECIDED TO TRY 
TO HOLD THE COUNTRY TOGETHER AMIDST THE LINGERING BITTERNESS WITHOUT CURBING 
PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY . PROBABLY NO ONE ELSE COULD HAVE DONE IT 
. INONU, 80, SEEMED LIKE AN EMBODIMENT OF TURKEY'S PAST : 
BORN UNDER THE SULTANATE, HE WAS ONE OF KEMAL ATATURK'S MOST 
DASHING REVOLUTIONARY GENERALS, FIRST BECAME PRIME MINISTER IN 1923, SERVED ON 
AND OFF AS PREMIER OR PRESIDENT OF TURKEY FOR 40 YEARS 
. YET LAST WEEK INONU WAS AGAIN FIGHTING TO SAVE TURKEY 
FROM NEW POLITICAL TURMOIL . NEW DILEMMA . INONU AND HIS 
PEOPLE'S REPUBLICAN PARTY INAUGURATED OVERDUE REFORMS, BUT THESE DID NOT NECESSARILY 
MAKE HIM POPULAR . BUREAUCRATS WERE ANGERED BY HIS CAMPAIGN AGAINST 
WASTE . BUSINESSMEN AND BIG LANDOWNERS WERE INCENSED BY NEW SCHEMES 
TO MAKE THEM PAY TAXES . PLAIN CONSUMERS WERE MAD AT 
THE ATTEMPT TO PUT GOVERNMENT MONOPOLIES ON A PROFITMAKING BASIS, WHICH 
RAISED PRICES . PEASANTS, WHO STILL WOULD RATHER HAVE NEW MOSQUES 
THAN NEW SCHOOLS, HANKERED FOR THE OLD DAYS WHEN MENDERES BUILT 
8,000 VILLAGE SHRINES . MENDERES' HEIRS IN THE JUSTICE PARTY KEPT 
GAINING GROUND WITH THEIR STRANGE MIXTURE OF AGING LEADERS FOREVER TROTTING 
OUT THE GHOST OF THE DEAD LEADER AND YOUNG POLITICIANS FOREVER 
PROMISING THAT THEY COULD RUN THINGS MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN INONU . 
IN LAST MONTH'S NATIONWIDE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS, INONU WAS PLAINLY OVERCONFIDENT . 
WHILE JUSTICE PARTY LEADER RAGIP GUMUSPALA, 66, CAMPAIGNED STRENUOUSLY, COVERING THOUSANDS 
OF MILES A WEEK, INONU LOFTILY LIMITED HIS POLITICKING TO A 
SINGLE 20-MINUTE RADIO SPEECH . THE RESULTS GAVE INONU'S REPUBLICANS ONLY 
37 PER CENT OF THE VOTE ; TWO SMALLER PARTIES IN 
INONU'S SHAKY GOVERNMENT COALITION WERE VIRTUALLY WIPED OUT . THE WINNER 
WAS THE JUSTICE PARTY, WITH 46 PER CENT OF THE BALLOTS 
. LAST WEEK INONU RESIGNED . HIS DILEMMA : NEITHER MAJOR 
PARTY CAN RULE SEPARATELY, SINCE EACH LACKS A PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY, AND 
NEITHER WANTS TO RULE JOINTLY, SINCE THAT EXPERIMENT WAS TRIED ONCE 
BEFORE, LASTED SEVEN MONTHS AND ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING . NONE OF THE 
SMALLER PARTIES SEEM EAGER TO JOIN ANOTHER COALITION, EITHER . NEW 
NATIONAL ELECTIONS ? NOBODY IS ENTHUSIASTIC OVER THAT IDEA . TRY 
AGAIN . FOR THE TIME BEING, AT LEAST, THE ARMY WAS 
STICKING TO ITS PLEDGE OF POLITICAL NEUTRALITY, BUT NO ONE COULD 
BE SURE HOW LONG THE MILITARY WOULD RESIST THE IDEA OF 
RESTORING " STABILITY " BY STAGING ANOTHER TAKEOVER . BY WEEK'S 
END TURKEY'S PRESIDENT, GENERAL CEMAL GURSEL, CAME TO INONU AND ASKED 
HIM TO FORM A NEW CABINET ; CONCEIVABLY, HE MIGHT SUCCEED, 
BY PERSUADING ONE OF THE SMALL PARTIES TO JOIN A COALITION 
AND PICKING UP ENOUGH DEFECTORS ELSEWHERE TO SCRAPE UP A PARLIAMENTARY 
MAJORITY . AFTER ALL, INONU'S IMMEDIATE AIM WAS NOT A STABLE 
GOVERNMENT, BUT ANY GOVERNMENT AT ALL . 