The Turkish assembly voted by an absolute majority - 314 votes to 214 - in favour of an opposition motion of no confidence in the coalition government of Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz.

Mr Yilmaz has been accused of tampering with the $600m sale of a state bank, and of links with the Turkish mafia.

He has denied the charges, saying he is being brought down by the mafia, and is taking legal action to clear his name.

Mafia crackdown

He warned the country's economic and foreign policy would suffer as a result.

"If you bring this government down, you will make the gangs laugh," he said. "Of all governments past and present, ours has been the most determined to go after gangs."

He was referring to a police crackdown on organised crime which led to the arrest of several prominent mafia bosses over the past few months.

Mr Yilmaz came to power nearly 17 months ago after Turkey's first pro-Islamic government was forced out of power by the military.

He had acknowledged that he expected to lose the vote of confidence after key coalition partner the People's Republican Party withdrew its support from his coalition.

Political instability

This is the fourth administration to collapse since the rightist-led government of Tansu Ciller fell from power in 1995.

Its demise comes as Turkey struggles to overcome annual inflation of 62% and high government debts.

It is also likely to prolong the argument between Turkey and Italy over the extradition of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has applied for political asylum in Rome.

Correspondents say Turkey now faces a further period of political uncertainty as there is no obvious successor as prime minister and no party looks capable of forging a strong parliamentary majority.

The President, Suleyman Demirel, is now holding talks with other factions in parliament to see if any are capable of forming a new government.

They include the largest party in parliament, the pro-Islamist Virtue Party, which is strongly opposed by Turkey's secular politicians and by the military.

There is strong support for an early election, probably in April next year, but the military is thought to favour postponing any poll until 2000.

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