ANKARA, 3 May 2007 — Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called yesterday for early parliamentary elections to end a standoff between his government and the secular elite over Turkey’s political direction.
Erdogan acted a day after Turkey’s highest court ruled that the first round of the presidential poll was invalid, a defeat for the ruling AK Party that Erdogan labeled “a bullet aimed at democracy.”
The party’s presidential candidate is Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.
“We made a decision which will end all of the controversies and give the word to the nation. Our dear nation will present its preference of the future,” Erdogan said.
The elections will be held on July 22, nearly a month later than originally suggested by the ruling party, Parliament’s constitutional committee decided yesterday.
Erdogan is expected to win a second term after five years of strong economic growth since his party came to power in 2002.
The AK Party will also propose that in future the president be elected by popular vote, not by Parliament, Erdogan said.
Deniz Baykal, leader of the secularist main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said it was too late for this Parliament, elected in 2002, to overhaul the constitution.
“This is about a fundamental power struggle. Erdogan is saying ‘OK, you’re using everything in order to stop me, then I am going to the public and I will ask them (what they want)’,” said Mehmet Ali Birand, a leading Turkish commentator. A threat by the army, which regards itself as the guardian of Turkey’s secular system, to intervene in the presidential poll, an opposition boycott of the first round vote in Parliament and an anti-government rally of up to one million people on Sunday sharply increased tension in Turkey.
Turkey is a secular and predominantly Muslim country.
The decision to move the election to July brought relief to financial markets which had suffered their biggest fall in a year over the previous two days on fears of instability. Turkish shares and the lira recovered somewhat yesterday.
The European Commission welcomed Erdogan’s proposal for an early poll. Italy said recent events in Turkey showed caution over its admittance to the 27-nation bloc appeared justified.
“Turkey must emerge from the crisis by its own efforts and in full respect of democratic principles ... but it could emerge with a better democratic framework than before,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters in a phone interview.
Ankara began European Union membership talks in 2005.
The opposition boycotted last week’s presidential vote and said there were not enough deputies in Parliament to make the vote valid. Gul is the only presidential candidate.
Erdogan’s government vowed to press on with the presidential vote after the Constitutional Court annulled the first round on Tuesday.
