Turkey to remain pro-West

Islamic leaders vow to maintain stance AFTER a landslide victory in Turkey’s elections, a party with Islamic roots yesterday pledged to maintain the nation’s pro-Western stance, quickly moving to soothe worries that the crucial ally would undergo a radical shift toward Islam.

The Justice and Development Party won a parliamentary majority in yesterday's elections the first time in 15 years that any party has been in a position to govern alone largely due to voter anger over a devastated economy.

The win could concern Turkey's powerful and firmly secular military, which in the past forced a pro-Islamic government from power. However, the victorious Justice party stressed it didn't want confrontation.

At a huge celebration at party headquarters, leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "We will not spend our time dizzy with victory. We will build a Turkey where common sense prevails." With 99.9% of ballot boxes counted, Erdogan's party had 34% of the vote. The centre-left Republican People's Party had 19%.

The vote came as the US was trying to showcase Turkey as an example of a secular, democratic country that is overwhelmingly Muslim but has cast its future with the West. Turkey Nato's only Muslim member is crucial to any possible action against Iraq, which borders this nation.

Erdogan opposes a war against Iraq unless it is approved by the UN a similar attitude to that of outgoing Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.

"We do not want war, blood, tears and dead in our region," Erdogan said, adding, "We are obliged by the United Nations' decisions."

Republican party leader Deniz Baykal refused yesterday to describe Erdogan's party as a threat to Turkey's secular system.

"Such accusations would put the country into distress," he said. "We have to act in good faith. But I will retain caution. The whole world will be watching developments very carefully."

Justice sought to calm the public and the markets with pledges of support for secularism, Turkey's bid to join the EU and an International Monetary Fund austerity programme. It was not clear if Erdogan would seek to change Turkey's close military ties with Israel. Many Turks sympathise strongly with the Palestinians, and have called on previous governments to diminish ties with Israel.

Markets seemed to be relieved that the victors planned to press ahead with the IMF-backed recovery plan. Shares had risen 6.9% after two hours of trading yesterday.

Although Erdogan leads the Justice party, he has been banned from standing as a candidate because of a prison sentence he served in 1999 for publicly reading a poem that a court deemed anti-secular.

Erdogan said his party will meet early this week to decide on who to nominate as premier. The Justice party appeared to be just short of the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed to change the constitution to allow Erdogan to become prime minister.

The elections also marked the ousting of Turkey's long-time dominant political class. The party of outgoing Prime Minister Ecevit won only 1% of the vote and his coalition partners were below the 10% threshold needed for entry into parliament.

Ecevit expressed concern over the Justice party's Islamic roots. "I hope this party respects the secular and democratic regime," he said.

Former Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, Turkey's first female premier, announced yesterday that she plans to step down as leader of the centre-right True Path Party after it won about 9% of the vote.

The last time a leader from the Islamic movement led a Turkish government was in 1996, when Necmettin Erbakan became the first pro-Islamic premier to take office in Turkey.