Turkey's ruling party sticks with Gul as presidential candidate

ANKARA - Turkey's Islamist-rooted ruling party decided Monday to stick with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as its presidential candidate despite secular opposition to his bid, television stations reported.
Gul will meet opposition party leaders to try to win their support before holding a press conference Tuesday afternoon to announce his decision to run, said NTV and CNN-Turk television, as well as the Anatolia news agency.
The decision on Gul's candidacy was taken at a meeting of the party's leadership, chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey found itself in a deep crisis earlier this year after a secularist campaign blocked Erdogan's Justice and Development (AK) party from electing Gul as president.
The crisis worsened when the army issued a statement in April warning the government it was ready to step in to protect the secular order.
The opposition boycotted two parliamentary votes in April and May, robbing the house of the quorum required to hold a presidential vote, on the grounds that the AK candidate, Gul, was not truly committed to Turkey's secular system.
Demonstrators also took to the streets in mass protests against the prospect of a president from the AKP, which secularists accuse of seeking to erode the separation of state and religion.
The AK party denies charges that it has a secret Islamist agenda. It has disowned its roots, pledged commitment to the secular system and carried out reforms that stabilised the economy and ensured the start of Turkey's EU membership talks.
Justice and Development won 46.5 percent of the vote in snap elections on July 22 to secure 341 of the 550 seats in parliament and a popular mandate to govern Turkey for a second five-year term.
Last week parliament approved a new timetable for fresh presidential elections, setting the first round for August 20.
The second round is scheduled for August 24, the third for August 28 and the final and fourth round for September 1. Candidates for the post have until until midnight August 19 to put themselves forward.

08/13/2007 18:59 GMT