ANKARA - The staunchly secularist Turkish army issued a harsh warning Friday against questioning the country's secular system and said it would "openly display its position and attitudes when it becomes necessary."
"The problem that has recently stood out in the presidential election process has focused on the issue of questioning secularism. The Turkish armed forces are following this with concern," the general staff said in a statement late in the evening.
It was posted on the army web site hours after parliament held a first round of voting in the presidential election, in which Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) was the sole candidate.
"It should not be forgotten that the Turkish armed forces are a side in this debate and are a staunch defender of secularism.
"The Turkish armed forces are against those debates... and will display their position and attitudes when it becomes necessary. No one should doubt that," the statement said.
The main opposition secularist Republican People's Party, which insists that the presidency cannot be left to the AKP, petitioned the Constitutional Court to annul the vote on the grounds of a technicality.
The AKP is the moderate offshoot of the Welfare Party of Turkey's first Islamist prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, which was forced from power as a result of a harsh army-led secularist campaign in 1997 and was outlawed the following year.
The army has carried out three coups, in 1960, 1971 and 1980.
04/27/2007 21:03 GMT