ANKARA - Turkey's presidential race formally kicked off Monday, but Islamist-rooted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan remained tight-lipped on his intentions amid protests by secular forces.
Parliament, which elects the president, began accepting nominations two days after an estimated 500,000 people rallied in Ankara to discourage Erdogan, 53, from standing for the presidency. So far no candidates have come forward.
Although largely symbolic, the presidency embodies the secular regime of this Muslim majority country and many fear the strict separation of state and religion will be eroded if a former Islamist gets the job.
Organised by a militant secularist association, Saturday's rally brought together people from across the political spectrum, from hardline nationalists to pro-Western liberals.
Presidential candidates have a 10-day period -- until midnight on April 25 -- during which to submit their applications.
Erdogan, currently visiting Germany, has yet to say whether he will run and has hinted that he could wait until the last minute before announcing his decision.
The prime minister began his political career in a now-defunct Islamist party banned for undermining secularism. At one point he was jailed for religious sedition.
He now describes himself as a "conservative democrat" and says he has disowned his fundamentalist past.
But his critics remain skeptical and point to past declarations such as, "I favour Shariah," or "you can be either secular or Muslim."
"Those remarks were mistakes," Erdogan's chief political adviser Omer Celik told the liberal daily Milliyet on Monday.
"In any case," he said, "the prime minister does not say that he still stands behind those words, nor does he say that those are his goals. Has he done anything during this tenure to confirm those remarks? No."
Since coming to power in 2002, Erdogan's government has achieved strong economic growth and enacted several reforms to align the country with the norms of the European Union, which it is seeking to join.
But it also made unsuccessful attempts to criminalise adultery, restrict businesses that serve alcohol to special zones and ease access to universities for graduates of Muslim preachers' schools.
The government "could have performed better in preventing political abuse of religion," Celik acknowledged, but said Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) observes constitutional principles "at the highest level."
Erdogan hinted while speaking to reporters on his flight to Germany that his political views, past or present, would have no bearing on his possible tenure as president.
"One leaves one's political identity behind when serving as president," the mass-circulation Sabah daily quoted him as saying.
Parliament elects the president for a single seven-year term and the AKP holds a comfortable majority, with 353 of the single chamber's 550 seats.
This means that if he wants the job, Erdogan will get it, probably not in the first two rounds of voting when a two-thirds majority of 367 is required, but in a third or fourth round, when a simple majority of 276 votes suffices.
The constitution calls for early general elections if lawmakers fail to elect a president in four rounds of voting.
Parliament has yet to finalize the schedule of the presidential vote, but the first round is expected on April 26 or May 3, the Anatolia news agency said.
The mandate of outgoing president Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a staunchly secular former judge, ends on May 16.
Along with largely ceremonial duties, the president has a one-time right to reject bills passed by parliament and the final word on appointing senior government officials.

04/16/2007 13:44 GMT