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| Turkish parliament debates early election call |
| Ankara, 03.05.2007 |
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| By Hidir Goktas
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's parliament began debating a proposal on Thursday for early national elections in July, a move intended to end a political crisis that has pitted the Islamist-rooted government against the secular establishment.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan proposed early polls on Wednesday, a day after Turkey's highest court ruled the first round of a presidential election in parliament invalid in a serious setback for his ruling AK Party.
Parliament, where the AK Party has a majority, was to examine a proposal by the assembly's constitutional committee to hold national elections on July 22.
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The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which helped trigger the crisis by asking Turkey's Constitutional Court to halt the presidential poll, said it would prefer the general election to be held in early June or in September.
The CHP said election turnout could suffer during the summer holiday period.
Erdogan had proposed holding the polls on June 24, but was reported as saying he had no objection to the July date. Elections had originally been slated for November 4.
Early elections were forced after the constitutional court ruled on Tuesday that the first round of voting in presidential polls was invalid because an opposition boycott prevented the assembly achieving the required quorum.
The sole candidate in the presidential poll was Abdullah Gul, who is foreign minister and a former Islamist. Opponents fear Gul as president and Erdogan as prime minister would push Turkey towards an Islamist agenda, a claim they both deny.
Analysts expect Erdogan's AK Party to win the general election after presiding over a period of strong economic growth since sweeping to power in 2002 amid a deep financial crisis.
But Erdogan also faces a strong rise in nationalist and anti-Islamist sentiment. Around 1 million people rallied in Istanbul last Sunday against his government and its handling of the presidential election contest.
The more political parties clear Turkey's very high 10 percent threshold for entering parliament, the greater the risk of the AK Party losing its majority and being forced to govern in a coalition that could result in slower reforms.
Lawmakers are also due in coming days to debate government plans for sweeping constitutional changes, including its call to have the president elected by the people, not by the parliament.
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![Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Turkey borders eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest, Greece to the west, Georgia to the northeast, Armenia, Azerbaijan (the Nakhichevan exclave), and Iran to the east, Iraq and Syria to the southeast. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west, and the Black Sea to the north. Turkey also contains the Sea of Marmara, which is used by geographers to mark the border between Europe and Asia, thus making Turkey transcontinental.[1]
The region comprising modern Turkey has overseen the birth of major civilizations such as the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. Because of its strategic location, where two continents meet, Turkey's culture has a unique blend of Eastern and Western tradition, often described as a bridge between the two civilizations. A powerful regional presence from the Adriatic Sea to China in the Eurasian landmass between Russia and India, Turkey has come to acquire increasing strategic significance.[2][3]
Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic whose political system was established in 1923 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I. Since then, Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West while continuing to foster relations with the Eastern world. It is a founding member of the United Nations,[4] the Organization of the Islamic Conference,[5] the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development[6] and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe,[7] a member state of the Council of Europe since 1949,[8] and of NATO since 1952.[9] Since 2005, Turkey has been in accession negotiations with the European Union, having been an associate member since 1963.[10] Turkey is also a member of the G20, which brings together the 20 largest economies of the world.
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