Turkish presidential hopeful seeks opposition backing

Ankara, Apr 25 (Reuters) Turkish presidential hopeful Abdullah Gul, a former Islamist, lobbied smaller parties today to try to block the nationalist-minded main opposition from challenging the legality of his expected election.

The ruling AK Party picked Foreign Minister Gul, architect of Turkey's European Union bid, as its candidate yesterday.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has vowed to boycott the vote in parliament on Friday because the AK Party failed to consult them over the choice of Gul.

Analysts and diplomats said they saw little risk that Gul would not win the presidential vote because of the AK Party's control of parliament with 354 seats out of 550.

But the party needs the attendance of two smaller opposition parties in the chamber during the vote to help stave off the CHP's legal challenge. The CHP insists at least two thirds of deputies must be present or the vote will be invalid.

Gul held talks with the True Path Party (DYP) and independent MPs in a rare conciliatory move. The DYP and parliament's third largest party, ANAP, said they would hold more talks before deciding on what position to take on Friday.

''I told them 'if parliament approves my candidacy and picks me as president...I am aware of the responsibility of overcoming the difficulties which emerge from (the fact that) Turkey is a very politicised society','' Gul told reporters.

Turkey's leading newspapers, often at odds with the AK Party, largely gave Gul their support. Gul, an affable moderate, is widely respected even by secularists wary of his Islamist past.

Turkey's powerful secular establishment, which includes army generals and judges, campaigned hard to stop Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan from running for president. They accuse him of harbouring a hidden Islamist agenda and seeking to undermine the republic's separation of state and religion.

Both Erdogan and Gul strongly deny the Islamist charges.

Turkey's leading business association TUSIAD played down any threat Gul's election might pose to the secular system.

Turkey's lira currency and sovereign bonds extended gains as investors signalled their approval of Gul. Markets had been concerned that an Erdogan presidency would harm stability.

SETBACK FOR SECULARISTS In Turkey, the government holds most power but the president can veto laws, veto appointments of low and high ranking officials, appoint judges and is the army's commander in chief.

As successor to modern Turkey's revered founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the president also carries great moral weight.

''If we call our regime a democracy, we must concede Gul's presidency and the legitimacy of the parliament which will elect him,'' wrote Murat Yetkin, a columnist at Radikal daily.

Gul is the only candidate running for president.

The presidential debate has again brought to light how deeply divided Turkey is over strict rules governing freedom of religion. Turkey is predominantly Muslim.

Attempts by the AK Party to ease a ban on headscarves in public offices and universities, and to promote religious teachings, have in the past been blocked by secularists.

Many newspapers questioned whether Gul's wife would be able to wear the Muslim-style headscarf at the presidential palace.

The outgoing president did not allow the headscarf.

Gul as president would be a significant blow to hardline secularists, who still control much of the bureaucracy.

Cumhuriyet newspaper, mouthpiece of the secular establishment, said the AK Party was bent on turning Turkey into a ''modern Islamic state''.

Reuters RS GC2054