By abstaining in a parliamentary vote for a new president, his three-party coalition looks set to keep the presidency vacant when the incumbent, Michal Kovac, leaves the job on March 2nd.
No single party had a majority in the 56-member parliament but the three-party, centre-right coalition in power had 30 seats in total - one more than needed to pass the bailout.
Turkey's three-party coalition headed by Bulent Ecevit was set to fall, after a mutiny within his own party against the ailing 77-year-old prime minister.