Gunman tries to attack Turkey's top education chief

Ankara, April 25 (Reuters) The chairman of Turkey's strictly secular higher education body YOK escaped a suspected assassination attempt today, an official said.

An unnamed man tried to enter by force the YOK office to see Erdogan Tezic, a well-known secularist. When he was prevented from entering, the gunman fired shots at the bodyguards of Tezic, a YOK official told Reuters.

The attempted attack comes a day after the Islamist-rooted ruling AK Party announced Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as their presidential candidate in parliamentary elections.

Tezic has been highly critical of the ruling AK Party's policies and opposed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan seeking the presidency.

The secularist elite, including army generals, university rectors and judges, fear the AK Party is seeking to undermine the strict division of state and religion in Turkey.

REUTERS RS BD2106