Turkey's ruling party favours early elections

Turkey's Islamic-rooted ruling party today appealed to parliament to declare early general elections, opening the way for an easing of tensions with the secular establishment.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the decision in response to secularists' fears that his administration, by proposing a candidate for president with a background in the Islamic political movement, was moving the country toward Islamic rule that would undermine their Western way of life.

By holding early elections on June 24 for a government with a fresh mandate, Mr Erdogan hopes to resolve a crisis that sent the stock market tumbling and prompted the pro-secular military to threaten to intervene.

"God willing, Turkey will get back on track," Mr Erdogan said, referring to the economic and political stability that Turkey had enjoyed in recent years.

In a setback for his government, the country's highest court yesterday halted the parliamentary vote for president that looked set to elect the ruling party's candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

Acting on a protest from the opposition, the Constitutional Court ruled that there were not enough legislators present during the first round of voting on Friday, and cancelled the round.

The opposition had boycotted the vote, depriving the ruling party of a quorum of two-thirds of politicians in the 550-seat Parliament.

Mr Gul said he would not withdraw his candidacy despite the ruling and urged parliamentary elections to be held "as soon as possible".

At the heart of the conflict is a fear that Mr Gul's party would use its control of both Parliament and the presidency to overcome opposition to moving Turkey toward Islamic rule.

More than 700,000 pro-secular Turks demonstrated in Istanbul on Sunday, many of them women who believe political Islam would deprive them of personal freedoms and economic opportunities.

Secularists are deeply sceptical of the government despite its stated commitment to secularism, as well as reforms aimed at gaining membership to the European Union, because many ruling party members made their careers in Turkey's Islamist political movement.

Erdogan once spent several months in jail after reciting an Islamic poem that prosecutors said had incited religious hatred.

The ruling party has advocated an eventual move toward a US-style presidential system with a more powerful executive, adding to concerns about a president with an Islamist tilt.

Mr Erdogan also said he would push for a referendum if necessary on a constitutional amendment allowing the president to be elected by popular vote.