ANKARA: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s failure to achieve the installation of an Islamic central banker exposes deep political divisions in EU-aspirant Turkey as it gears up for elections next year.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer last week rejected the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) choice to head the central bank in what is the latest in a string of vetoes of appointments and draft laws by Turkey’s staunchly secularist head of state.

Turkey’s most popular politician Erdogan, who has come under heavy criticism for his handling of the latest appointment, said on Monday another person would be proposed. Analysts expect a compromise choice to avoid further jitters in financial markets.

The powerful secularist establishment, which includes the military and judiciary, sees the AKP, rooted in political Islam, as posing a mortal threat to Turkey’s political order.

“Sezer, with his veto, gave the message that politics should not just stay out of mosques, the army and schools, but also out of the central bank,” wrote columnist Erdal Safak in the Sabah daily at the weekend.

Erdogan had proposed Adnan Buyukdeniz, head of an interest-free bank group based on Islamic principles, to replace Sureyya Serdengecti as head of the central bank. Sezer said Buyukdeniz, a devout Muslim and close to the AKP, was “inappropriate” for the post although financial markets were less concerned.

The AKP denies any secret Islamist agenda and says it is a centre-right party committed to Turkey’s secular order. It has secured prized European Union talks status, improved political rights and brought the economy back from the brink of collapse.

Opponents argue proposed reforms point to the contrary.

The AKP has unsuccessfully tried to push through plans to give religious teachings a greater role in the education system. It has passionately argued for the lifting of the ban on wearing the Islamic headscarf in universities and public offices and has tried to make adultery a criminal offence.

Erdogan has also allowed mayors to restrict alcohol licences and drinking at municipality-run restaurants.

“Up to now Erdogan has gone up to the brink and pulled back. He went to the brink on criminalising adultery, then pulled back,” said William Hale, a professor of politics at the University of London’s SOAS college.

The vast majority of Turks are Muslim, but most strongly support the separation of state and religion bequeathed by Kemal Ataturk, who founded the modern republic in the 1920s.

Tensions between the AKP and the secularists have increased in recent months as they maneouvre for presidential and parliamentary elections due in 2007 that could forever change Turkey’s political landscape.

This is because parliament is due to vote in a new president in May 2007 when Sezer’s seven-year term ends.

The secularist establishment, which also includes opposition parties in parliament, fears Erdogan would try to relax strict restrictions on religious expression if he won the presidency.

The AKP won a landslide victory in 2002 after a long period of unstable and corruption-riddled coalition governments. The AKP has a majority in parliament, but suffers from internal divisions between Islamists and more liberal factions.—Reuters