ANKARA -- Turkish Economy Minister Kemal Dervis said he had urged Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in a meeting on Friday to help build a center-left alliance or risk a split vote in November 3 elections.

Unity among Turkey's array of feuding parties would help the chance of stable government in a NATO member and EU membership candidate likely to play a key role in any U.S. attack on neighboring Iraq.

Although Dervis said the brief meeting between the two had been "extremely warm", it will have done nothing to dampen predictions he may soon launch his own election campaign outside Ecevit's government.

Dervis said he had asked the veteran leftist "to work to bring about a more healthy political structure for the sake of the future of our economy.

"In particular, the lack of representation that will emerge (after elections) from the division of center-left votes was discussed," he told Reuters.

Turkey's Parliament called the elections after Ecevit's poor health and internal squabbling brought his three-year-old coalition government to a standstill.

--- Fragmented --- Polls now suggest many parties on the left and right of a spectrum cursed by splits and divisions may not reach the 10 percent of the popular vote needed to win seats in Parliament.

Relations between Dervis and Ecevit have been increasingly tense since Dervis began his campaign to forge a new political alliance ahead of the polls.

Ecevit told Dervis earlier in the week to stop efforts to build an alliance among rival parties or quit the government, a call apparently repeated on Friday.

"The prime minister listened with understanding and said active efforts to that end would clash with the status of a minister within the government," Dervis said.

Financial markets in Istanbul have long been waiting for the former world bank economist who designed Turkey's $16 billion IMF loan deal to finally launch himself into party politics.

They see his influence as essential to producing a united electoral front able to challenge an Islamist Party many wealthy Turks suspect may try to water down the IMF deal.

The speculation Dervis would quit had been fuelled by the Thursday resignation of a close aide.

Many investors chose to withdraw their money rather than risk keeping it in the markets over what looked like an uncertain weekend. But the losses were tame compared to the last time Dervis tried to quit in July.

Dervis quit in July, apparently to join a political party formed by former foreign minister Ismail Cem, but market uproar and presidential pressure forced him to return.

Now however investors may welcome the minister's resignation if it comes with a clear plan to build a wide political alliance.

Berra Kilic, general manager at Es Yatirim securities, said many investors were now betting on Dervis's resignation. "I think that Dervis not entering politics would really hit markets," she said. "If not taking part emerges as a possibility then that would have a very negative impact."

She pointed to a recent IMF statement saying there was no question of the $16 billion pact "standing or falling on the basis of one individual" as a sign the fund was braced for Dervis to move.