Turkey's Gul faces short wait for president's post

ANKARA, Aug 24 (Reuters) Turkey's new parliament holds a second round of voting today for the country's presidency, but Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is not expected to clinch the post until next week.

Gul, a highly respected diplomat who helped secure European Union-accession talks for Turkey, is distrusted by Turkey's military and secular elite because he served as a minister in an Islamist party chased from power in 1997.

Today's vote is the second of up to four rounds. Gul is expected to be elected in the third session on August. 28 when he needs only a simple majority -- which the ruling AK Party has.

In today's ballot he needs two thirds of the votes to win, unlikely as the ultra-nationalist opposition MHP and the leftist DSP have fielded their own candidates. The pro-Kurdish DTP has signalled it will not vote for Gul and the main opposition and staunchly secular CHP is boycotting the whole process.

The country of 74 million people is predominantly Muslim but is governed by a secular constitution.

The Islamist-rooted AK Party is accused of seeking to undermine a separation of religion and state dating back to the foundation of the republic after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The party denies the charges and point to their EU reforms and pro-business record in office.

Turkey's financial markets, troubled by months of political turmoil, were this time focused on volatility in global markets with the election regarded as a foregone conclusion.

The lira currency eased slightly to 1.3250 today, after strengthening 1.4 percent to close at 1.3230 yesterday.

DIVISIVE FIGURE Gul says he backs secularism but opposition from the secularist elite remains fierce, in part because his wife wears the Muslim headscarf, seen by secularists as a provocative symbol of religion.

The scarf is banned in public offices.

Few expect the army -- which has ousted four governments since 1960 -- to intervene directly after strong public statements earlier this year appear to have backfired and helped secure more votes for the AK Party in parliamentary polls.

Failure to elect Gul earlier this year sparked fresh parliamentary elections, which the AK Party won.

If Gul wins as expected, it would be the first time in modern Turkey's history that the post has been filled by a former Islamist.

In Turkey, the president can veto laws and appointments of officials, and name judges. The post carries great moral weight because it was first held by the country's revered secular founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

REUTERS SKB PM1252