ANKARA, 7 May 2007 — Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul withdrew his candidacy for Turkey’s presidency yesterday in a move that could ease a crisis in the secular state, after his party failed to gain a quorum in Parliament to elect him.

“After this ... my candidacy is out of the question,” Gul told reporters after the roll-call in Parliament. “I don’t feel resentment.” Gul, leading architect of Turkey’s EU membership bid, has not yet formally withdrawn, but the next president is now expected to be elected only after early general polls on July 22. He was the only candidate.

His bid, backed by the ruling AK Party, revealed a deep divide over the future direction of Turkey, which has a strongly secular constitution but a predominantly Muslim population. Parliament elects presidents for a single seven-year term.

The NATO-member has seen a wave of large protests by secularists who demanded Gul withdraw his candidacy. That was accompanied by rising alarm in the military at the prospect of a former Islamist becoming president and commander in chief.

The military — which along with the judiciary and universities makes up the core of the secular elite — has issued a public reminder that it is the ultimate defender of the secular state. The army has removed four civilian governments in 50 years in a country which now hopes for European Union membership.

“Many Turks are happy with the secular system and used to a lifestyle people have had for 100 years. They are worried that an Arabization of society may take place,” Semih Idiz, a columnist at liberal daily Milliyet, told Reuters.

The AK Party, which has Islamist origins but denies an Islamist agenda now, failed to muster the 367 deputies required to vote because most opposition parties boycotted the session.

Last week, the Constitutional Court annulled a first round ballot and ruled that two-thirds of the chamber had to be present to validate a presidential vote.

Fighting back, the government organized a revote, called early general elections, and is now pushing for constitutional amendments that would let the public, rather than Parliament, elect the president for a maximum of two five-year terms.

Parliament is now expected to call the presidential election process invalid. Turkish financial markets fell to one-year lows last week due to the deadlock, but analysts hope early general elections will take Turkey out of the crisis.

A divide has emerged between Turks who want to preserve the strict separation of mosque and state and a growing class of more religiously-minded people who want a relaxation of curbs on religious symbols and expression.

Gul’s withdrawal marks the AK Party’s first major defeat since it swept to power in 2002 amid a deep financial crisis.

With a majority in Parliament, the party has promoted economic reforms in a drive to join the EU, wooed foreign investors and improved Turkey’s record on human rights. But critics fear that once the party takes the presidency it will control all major state institutions. To end the standoff, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is appealing directly to the people in elections on July 22, brought forward from Nov. 4.

“The only point of stability, the only concept we can have some faith in are the citizens of this country,” said Egemen Bagis, an AK Party lawmaker and Erdogan adviser. “It will be up to the Turkish nation to decide who they want to govern them.” Erdogan is also pushing for the constitutional amendments to overhaul the process of presidential elections.

Parliament is expected to vote on the changes this week and the next president could be elected by popular vote later this year. But the amendments could also face legal challenges or be put to a referendum.