ANKARA - The Turkish parliament on Wednesday passed a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's new government which has pledged to carry out democratic reforms and strengthen the economy.
A total of 337 lawmakers in the 550-member parliament voted in favour of the new cabinet while 197 voted against and one abstained, parliament speaker Koksal Toptan said.
The result was a foregone conclusion as Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) dominates parliament with 339 seats.
The AKP, the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist party, was re-elected by a landslide in snap polls last month prompted by a crisis over its presidential candidate Abdullah Gul.
Gul, a former Islamist, was elected head of state last week.
The party, which came to power in 2002, has disowned its religious past and conducted far-reaching reforms leading to the start of membership talks with the European Union and high economic growth with record foreign investment.
It has pledged to further democratic and economic reforms in its second term.
But hard-line secularists, including the army, remain unconvinced and suspect the AKP of a secret agenda to undermine the separation of state and religion in the Muslim country.
han/gh
09/05/2007 13:31 GMT