August 10, 2007	Friday	Rajab 25, 1428

ANKARA, Aug 9: Turkish lawmakers on Thursday elected a moderate conservative from the Islamist-rooted ruling party as the new parliament speaker in a show of reconciliation after months of political tensions.

A total of 450 lawmakers in the 550-seat house voted for Koksal Toptan — well above the 367 he needed — as opposition deputies lent support to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to propel him to the post in a first-round vote.

Toptan's only rival in the race, Tunca Toskay from the right-wing Nationalist Action Party (MHP), garnered 74 votes. A third contender for the job, independent lawmaker Kamer Genc, withdrew just before the vote started.

Toptan's nomination was largely seen as a sign that the AKP was seeking compromise with secularist forces after a row over its choice of a former Islamist for the next president. That dispute, in April, triggered a crisis and led to snap legislative elections on July 22.

“If we listen to each other and achieve reconciliation, there is no obstacle that we cannot overcome,” Toptan told the general assembly after his election.

Parliament “will continue to embrace the basic tenets of the republic and... work towards improving our democracy,” he added.

A lawyer by profession and a respected politician, the 64-year-old Toptan served as state, education and culture ministers under centre-right conservative parties before joining the AKP.

Unlike many AKP lawmakers, Toptan has no links with radical Islamist movements and his wife does not wear the Islamic headscarf, seen by hardline secularists as a symbol of political Islam.

He served as the head of the parliamentary justice commission before last month’s elections. The AKP won a landslide victory to secure 341 of the 550 seats in parliament and a popular mandate to govern Turkey for a second five-year term.

In terms of protocol, Toptan will now be the country's number two after the president. His smooth election comes just before potentially tense elections in parliament to choose the country's next president.

The AKP was forced to bring legislative elections forward from November after it twice failed in April and May to elect Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as head of state when the secular opposition boycotted the vote in parliament.

The crisis worsened with a threatening statement from the army and mass street protests against the prospect of a president from the AKP, which secularists accuse of seeking to erode the separation of state and religion.

The party, which has disowned its Islamist roots, denies the charges.

Gul has indicated that he could run for the presidency again.

But AKP sources and newspaper reports said Wednesday that the party was divided over whether or not to re-nominate him on fears that such a move would revive tensions with secularist forces and the military.—AFP