Turkey's CHP will abstain if Erdogan wants top post

ANKARA, Dec 27 (Reuters) Turkey's main opposition party said today it would boycott a parliamentary vote to select a new president if Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stood for the post.

Erdogan, whose roots in political Islam concern Turkey's secularist opposition, has declined to say whether he will run for president when incumbent Ahmet Necdet Sezer retires in May.

Erdogan's AK Party has around two-thirds of the seats in Turkish parliament, which selects the president.

The secularist CHP opposition party has called for an early general election to elect a new parliament before the decision on a new president is made.

''We will not be a part of this scenario. We will not participate voting if Erdogan is a candidate,'' CHP Chairman Deniz Baykal told NTV news channel.

Baykal said Turkey would be damaged if Erdogan was picked next president.

Secularists fear Erdogan or another senior AK party member could take over the presidency and use the post to weaken Turkey's strict separation of state and religion.

Sezer, a secularist, added his own voice earlier this month to calls for early general elections. He said an early vote was needed to ease tension caused by speculation over his successor.

Although the government wields the greatest power in Turkey, the president is commander of the armed forces, has the right to appoint many key officials and can block legislation once.

Erdogan insists the current parliament will serve its five-year mandate and that elections will be held as scheduled in November 2007.

Reuters SP VP2340