Turkey's Gul defends wife's Muslim headscarf

ANKARA, Aug 15 (Reuters) Turkey's presidential candidate Abdullah Gul said today he anticipated no problems with the powerful military over his wife's Muslim headscarf and insisted the constitution guaranteed her freedom to wear it.

Turkey's secular elite, including the generals, opposes Foreign Minister Gul's bid for the top job because of his Islamist past and the fact his wife Hayrunisa covers her head.

The headscarf, seen by secularists as a threat to the separation of state and religion, is banned from public offices and schools, though more than half of Turkish women wear it.

Asked whether the army might raise objections over the headscarf, Gul told reporters: ''Turkey is a country governed by laws... The constitution guarantees basic human rights, including the right to dress as one pleases.'' Gul tried to drum up support from labour unions and business leaders on Wednesday for his candidacy, a day after lodging his formal application and holding talks with opposition parties.

He reaffirmed his commitment to Turkey's secular order and vowed to act as an impartial head of state.

''The president represents the unity of the state... The president must have equal distance from everybody and observe the principle of impartiality,'' Gul said.

Parliament will hold a series of votes for the presidency starting next Monday. Gul is expected to win in the third round on Aug. 28 when he needs a simple majority in the 550-member parliament, where his ruling AK Party has 341 seats.

Gul is a respected statesman who as foreign minister helped secure the launch of Turkey's European Union entry talks. He firmly denies secularist claims he has a secret Islamist agenda.

CHALLENGE But his candidacy poses a direct challenge to the military, which helped derail his first bid to become head of state in April with a statement warning of pervasive Islamisation in Turkey and signalling its opposition to Gul.

That move forced Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to call early parliamentary elections which his AK Party decisively won.

Turkish financial markets weakened on Wednesday on global factors and on uncertainty over the presidency. The lira currency fell to its weakest level in two months against the dollar and stocks also tumbled.

The secularist opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has snubbed Gul's request for talks and says it will boycott state receptions if he is elected.

But other opposition parties have taken a more constructive line and have said they will attend the voting sessions, ensuring the AK Party has a quorum for the election to be valid.

The army has not commented on Gul's decision to run again.

But analysts say it will watch Gul's actions very closely and note it has always reserved the right to intervene in the political arena if secularism is deemed to be in danger.

Just 10 years ago, the military, with strong public backing, ousted a government in which Gul served because it was seen as too Islamist. But things are very different now.

Erdogan's government is popular, having won 47 per cent of the vote in July's elections, and the economy is strong.

Erdogan will on Thursday present his new cabinet list to outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a staunch secularist critic of the AK Party.

If Sezer vetoes any of the names, Vatan said, Erdogan will wait for the new president to take office and approve it.

REUTERS SLD RK1800