November 16, 2002	Saturday	Ramazan 10, 1423

ANKARA, Nov 15: Economist and foreign policy expert Abdullah Gul is likely to be appointed Turkey’s new prime minister shortly, a source in Gul’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) said on Friday.

The source said President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had not yet contacted Gul, the candidate most favoured by Turkey’s financial markets, but that he now seemed the most likely candidate for the top job.

AKP leader Tayyip Erdogan, who led AKP to a landslide victory in the November 3 election, was disqualified from running for parliament because of a conviction in the 1990s for Islamist sedition.

AKP sources earlier told Reuters Gul was the strongest candidate among the three names Erdogan presented to Sezer during a meeting earlier on Friday.

Markets see Gul, a relative independent within the AKP, as the strongest candidate to carry out tough economic reforms under Turkey’s 16 billion dollars IMF pact, as well as drive forward Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.—Reuters