Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was elected Turkey's first president with an Islamist past, risking fresh tensions with the army over religion's role in government.
Gul beat two opponents in a third round of balloting at parliament in Ankara today, Parliamentary Speaker Koksal Toptan told lawmakers. The former Islamic Development Bank economist got 339 votes, 63 more than the simple majority required. Gul will take the oath for his seven-year term later today.
Turkey's military, which has ousted four governments since 1960, has clashed with Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the separation of mosque and state. The generals blocked Gul's first run for president in April, forcing an early general election, when they warned that he might undermine the secular order established in Turkey eight decades ago after the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
``People are worried that Erdogan's government is getting control of all levers of power,'' Ilter Turkmen, who served as foreign minister after a military coup in 1980, said in an interview. ``I am worried that there will now be continuous tension between the army and the government, and the military could make Gul's life miserable.''
The head of the army, General Yasar Buyukanit, repeated the military's warning to the government on secularism in a statement yesterday to mark Victory Day on Aug. 30. The military is determined to stop ``sneaky plans aimed at removing the republic's achievements,'' Buyukanit said.
Limited Role
The European Union, considering Turkey's membership application, has said Turkey should reduce the army's role in politics.
Buyukanit leads the second-largest standing army in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after the U.S. military. The army says secularism must be preserved to keep Turkey on its European path and away from the influence of Islamic states in the neighboring Middle East. Gul has led Turkey's EU membership talks since negotiations began in October 2005.
Gul ``should enter into a dialogue with his critics without delay, so he can be recognized as a president for all Turks,'' EU parliament member Joost Lagendijk said in an e-mailed statement, praising Gul's record as foreign minister. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called on Turkey to ``give fresh, immediate and positive impetus'' to EU membership talks.
Erdogan renominated Gul for the presidency after cementing his hold on power in the July 22 general election, when Justice won 47 percent of the vote -- the biggest share for any party since 1965.
Islamist Past
Gul, 56, and Erdogan, 53, both belonged to the Welfare Party that was ousted from power in 1997 by a military-led public campaign and later banned by the Constitutional Court for mixing Islam with politics. Welfare advocated closer relations with Libya and Iran, accused Western nations of immorality and encouraged women to wear Islamic-style headscarves.
As president, Gul will be required to approve or veto government legislation. Should he give the green light to steps such as lifting curbs on the wearing of headscarves by Muslim women in government buildings, it might renew tensions with the army. The military demands unwavering loyalty to the secular code of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's founder.
The outgoing president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, is an ally of the military who was chief judge of the Constitutional Court when Welfare was shut down. He used his veto to block measures put forward by Erdogan in his first term to make adultery punishable by jail and allowing trainee clergymen to study at university.
Military Focus
The president is of particular importance to Turkey's military because he is their commander in chief. In addition to veto powers over laws passed by parliament, the head of state also appoints top judges and bureaucrats.
Gul ``is going to be walking a tightrope,'' said Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst at Eurasia Group in London. ``He doesn't have much room for maneuver.''
The military will expect Gul to honor pledges made over the past two weeks to protect Turkey's secular ideology and remain above party politics. Those promises won him support from Turkey's biggest business groups and unions.
A confrontation with the military under the new president might not be far away.
Erdogan told reporters he plans to ask Gul to approve his new Cabinet tomorrow. Erdogan may then request that Gul approve a backlog of appointments to the bureaucracy rejected by Sezer that stirred trouble with the army. Many of the recruits are pious Muslims.
Market Conditions
For investors, the question of whether Gul can avoid a clash with the military has gained in importance because of current global market conditions, said Tolga Ediz, an emerging-markets strategist at Lehman Brothers in London.
``We think that Mr. Gul's action during his first few months in office -- the time he spends scrutinizing legislation, the care he takes in appointments, the tone he takes in speeches -- will contain critical signals,'' Ediz said. ``He might find himself the object of attack as political stability disintegrates.''
Tensions with the army may also resurface if Gul breaks with tradition and invites his wife, Hayrunnisa, who wears a headscarf, along with other devout wives of Justice party deputies to state receptions.
Gul worked as an economist at the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia between 1983 and 1991. He returned to Turkey to become a lawmaker for Welfare, which headed a coalition government in 1995.
Erdogan and Gul formed the Justice party in 2001. |
With the election of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to the Turkish presidency all but certain on Tuesday, many secularist opponents are calling for a more moderate stance against the former Islamist and his governing Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Turkeys military issued a stern warning on Monday about the threat to secularism on the eve of an expected triumph of the Islamic-oriented government in the presidential election of 
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan came under fire on Wednesday for calling on Turks who refused to accept 
people instead of by parliament. In a statement posted on the presidential website, his office said Sezer would also ask the Constitutional Court to rule on certain objections he has regarding the reforms. The statement did not say what these objections were.