July 25, 2007	Wednesday	Rajab 09, 1428

ANKARA, July 24: Turkey's Islamist-rooted government said on Tuesday its decisive electoral victory was a warning to the powerful army to stay out of politics and a sign of stronger democracy in the country.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) secured a second five-year term after its victory in Sunday's snap polls. The vote was called after a political crisis that saw the army threaten the government in the European Union candidate nation.

“Our people have said with the July 22 elections that politics should be left to political players,” government spokesman and Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin told reporters after the first cabinet meeting since the vote.

“The... elections have strengthened our democracy. The fact that Turkey has a more open society and has become a freer and more democratic country as part of its EU membership process played a major role in this,” he said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was forced to bring elections forward from November after an opposition boycott in parliament prevented the AKP from electing one of its own as president in April. The AKP faced accusations that the party was seeking to undermine Muslim-majority Turkey's secular order.

The crisis deepened when the army — which has toppled four governments since 1960 — warned the government that it would step in to protect the secular system amid mass anti-government demonstrations by secularists.

The AKP categorically denies that it has an Islamist agenda and says it is fully committed to the republic’s fundamental principles and Western orientation.

The military intervention was seen by many as one of the biggest factors in increasing the AKP votes to 46.4 percent — from about 34 percent in 2002 — for a solid majority of 340 seats in the 550-member parliament.

“Our people have always reacted to any act that might be perceived as intervention in politics,” Sahin said.

The election result was seen by observers as a major show of confidence in the party that has enacted democratic reforms, begun membership talks with the European Union, reduced inflation, maintained high growth and attracted record foreign investment.Tuesday's cabinet meeting was one of the last for Erdogan and his current ministers. They are likely to meet again Monday before the 53-year-old prime minister draws up his new cabinet.

Erdogan handed his resignation to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer as a formality on Monday and was asked to stay on as caretaker until the new government is in place.

The newly elected parliament must be sworn in before the president gives Erdogan the mandate to form the government, and final official results must be announced before that.

Electoral authorities are expected to make the announcement on Thursday, which could allow the new parliament to hold its maiden meeting next Tuesday.

Erdogan has so far refused to reveal any plans for his new cabinet, but Turkish newspapers on Tuesday said a reshuffle was likely.

In any case, Erdogan will have to come up with at least two new names to replace Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener and Trade and Industry Minister Ali Coskun, who did not run in Sunday's elections.

In a bid to rid itself of its Islamist image, the AKP fielded several new candidates, including well-known politicians from the centre-left and -right, women known for their liberal views, business people and economists.

Among them is Ertugrul Gunay, once an ideologue and a secretary-general of the main opposition Republican People's Party, former Merrill-Lynch economist Mehmet Simsek and Zafer Caglayan, the former head of the Ankara Chamber of Industry.

All three could get cabinet posts, the Turkish media said.

—AFP