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Former Islamist Is Voted in
as New President of Turkey
AP
Tuesday Aug 28, 2007
A devout Muslim won Turkey's presidency Tuesday after months
of confrontation with the secular establishment, promising to
be impartial and praising the idea that Islam and the state should
be separate.
Still, in a sign that tension could lie ahead, top generals did
not attend the swearing-in ceremony in parliament of Abdullah
Gul, their new president and commander in chief. Local media interpreted
their absence as a protest against the 56-year-old Gul, the former
foreign minister in Turkey's Islamic-oriented government.
Gul, who has tried to engineer Turkey's entry into the European
Union with sweeping reforms, received a majority of 339 votes
in a parliamentary ballot in the capital, Ankara. The secular
opposition had thwarted Gul's earlier bid for the presidency,
but his triumph this time was assured by a ruling party that won
a second term in general elections last month.
The burly and affable new president was careful to reach out
to the many Turks who suspect he has a secret Islamic agenda.
(Article continues below)
''In democracy, which is a system of rights and liberties, secularism,
one of the core principles of our republic, is as much a model
that underpins freedom for different lifestyles as it is a rule
of social harmony,'' Gul said. ''I will continue my path, in a
transparent and fully impartial manner, embracing all my citizens.''
Gul, a former practitioner of political Islam who later cast
himself as a moderate, vowed to campaign for gender equality and
the rule of law, and he said ''change and diversity'' were not
things to be feared.
''It is imperative for our country that we carry out the political
and economic reforms geared toward EU membership more resolutely,''
he told lawmakers in a nationally televised speech.
He also praised the military as a necessary deterrent and a symbol
of independence, a day after the military chief, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit,
warned that ''centers of evil'' were plotting to corrode secular
principles crafted nearly a century ago by Turkey's revered founder,
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
The military has ousted four governments since 1960, and an initial
presidential bid by Gul was derailed over fears that he planned
to dilute secular traditions. Some commentators said the generals'
failure to show up for Gul's oath-taking was ominous.
''It shows that his presidency is a source of tension from the
onset,'' Rusen Cakir, a leading analyst on political Islam, said
on Turkey's private NTV television. ''We will need to wait and
see if the tension turns into a crisis or whether some kind of
harmony is reached.''
One of Gul's sons attended the ceremony, but his wife, Hayrunnisa,
did not. She wears an Islamic-style head scarf, which is banned
in government offices and schools and is viewed by secularists
as a troubling symbol of religious fervor, and even militancy.
Some who wear the head scarf say the state's restrictions on Islamic
attire amount to a curb on freedom of expression.
Turkey's president has the power to veto legislation and official
appointments, and Gul has failed to allay secularist fears that
he would eagerly approve any initiatives of the government of
his close ally, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan said he planned to submit his new Cabinet to Gul on Wednesday.
Erdogan had presented his list earlier this month to outgoing
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who said the new president should
approve it.
''I hope (Gul's presidency) is beneficial to the country, the
people and the republic,'' Erdogan said. ''God willing, together,
shoulder to shoulder, we will carry Turkey forward.''
Gul took over the post from Sezer, a staunch secularist, in a
low-key ceremony that was closed to the media. On his way out
of the palace, Sezer stopped his car to say goodbye to guards
and journalists.
Outside the palace gates, secularists waved Turkish flags, threw
flowers at his vehicle and shouted: ''We are proud of you!''
Police also prevented two dozen demonstrators who were protesting
Gul's election from approaching the palace.
Gul failed to win the presidency in two rounds of voting last
week because the ruling Justice and Development Party lacked the
two-thirds majority in parliament needed for him to secure the
post. But the party -- which holds 341 of the 550 seats -- had
a far easier hurdle Tuesday, when only a simple majority was required.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the
United States welcomed ''this exercise in Turkish democracy. We
think it continues the course of democratic development in that
country.''
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he hoped
the government ''will be able to resume work ... to give fresh,
immediate and positive impetus'' to EU entry talks.
In Gul's hometown of Kayseri, in Turkey's conservative heartland,
hundreds gathered at a main square to celebrate his victory, private
NTV television reported.
Secularist Turks had staged mass rallies and the military threatened
to intervene when Erdogan nominated Gul for president in the spring.
This time, Gul said his party's victory in the general elections
gave him a strong mandate to run again.
Sinan Ogan, head of the Turkish Center for International Relations
and Strategic Analysis, said Gul's election reflects the rising
power of a middle class with religious values and mistrust of
the old secular elite. But he warned that Gul's foes will scrutinize
his conduct.
''If he slides into cronyism, then Turkey will see what instability
really means,'' Ogan said.
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