ANKARA - The head of Turkey's main opposition secularist Republican People's Party said Tuesday he would not resign from the party leadership despite increasing pressure on him to quit after general elections.
"I see no situation that requires such action," a defiant Deniz Baykal told reporters in his first public appearance since Sunday's vote, in which his arch-rival, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won a resounding victory.
Baykal was a key player in the political crisis in April that blocked Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) from installing one of its own as president and forced the early legislative election.
"Our expectations did not materialise, but this does not mean the CHP was unsuccessful," Baykal said, playing down protests of scores of party supporters who called for his resignation outside party headquarters immediately after the results emerged Sunday night.
The AKP took 46.4 percent of the vote to win a second five-year term, increasing its support by 12 points from the 2002 election, according to unofficial results.
Baykal's CHP, whose election campaign was based on accusations that the AKP was a threat to Turkey's secular order, finished second with 20.8 percent of the vote, only about one point higher than what it got in 2002.
The CHP boycotted two sessions in parliament in April and May, blocking the house from reaching the required quorum to hold a vote to elect a new president.
The sole candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, was certain to be elected.
Baykal argued that the AKP had a secret agenda to erode the separation of state and religion, even though the ruling party has disowned its Islamist roots and pledged commitment to the secular system.
His party had been widely expected to capitalise on massive, unprecedented pro-secular rallies sparked by the prospect of an AKP president.
Baykal kept his cards close to his chest Tuesday when asked how the CHP would act when the new parliament convenes, possibly next month, for fresh presidential elections.
"I will not say anything without seeing their (AKP's) candidate," he said, adding that he would discuss the issue with Erdogan.
Baykal insisted that Turkey's secular system remained under threat, but said the CHP would re-evaluate its strategies "in line with the people's values and expectations."
Immediately after he finished his press conference, dissident CHP members and former party heavyweights issued a harshly-worded appeal on him to resign.
"The CHP leadership has reached the point not only of resignation but quitting politics altogether," former foreign minister and parliamentary speaker Hikmet Cetin said.
Baykal, 70, who has lost four consecutive elections since 1995, rules his party with an iron fist and is severely criticised for having moved the social-democrat CHP to the right while ignoring intra-party democracy.
CHP leaders came under fire after Sunday's elections for having offered no solutions to Turkey's problems, presenting themselves only as the standard bearers of secularism.
07/24/2007 13:29 GMT