Turkey?s ruling party chose a presidential candidate with an Islamic background, focusing the worries of secular Turks.
Turkey's Islamist-rooted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday named Abdullah Gul as the ruling party candidate for president, following harsh secularist objections to his own reported ambitions.
ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkey's reformist Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will stand as his party's presidential candidate, the ruling AK party said Tuesday, in a move which could ease tension with the army and boost the Islamist-rooted groups electoral chances.
Turkey's ruling party chose the foreign minister as its presidential candidate Tuesday, following months of tension over whether the pro-Islamic prime minister would seek the post that has long guarded the country's secularism.
The choice of Abdullah Gul is expected to extend the reach of a party with a religious base into the heart of Turkey's secular establishment for the first time.
Turkey's foreign minister has been chosen as the ruling party's candidate for the presidency, a decision that will maintain continuity in EU reforms but fails to resolve a fight between the country's secular and Islamist camps.
Several recent murders have confronted Turkey's growing ranks of Christian evangelicals.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday named Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as the ruling party's candidate for president, ending speculation that Erdogan, a former Islamist, would stand himself.
Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gul looks likely to become president, but tensions surround the election.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday named Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as the ruling party's candidate for president, ending speculation that Erdogan would stand himself.