ANKARA, Aug 29: Turkey's staunchly secularist army chiefs refused on Wednesday to salute the country's new Islamist-rooted president Abdullah Gul on his first full day in office.

Gul had an easier time in his second engagement of the day when he approved the new government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of whose party he was a member until he was elected head of state by parliament on Tuesday.

The 56-year-old president joined army chief Yasar Buyukanit and other top generals at a graduation ceremony at the military's prestigious GATA medical academy.

Buyukanit accompanied Gul inside and the president cordially shook hands with top commanders, but the army chief and several other generals pointedly failed to give the customary salute to Gul as they mounted the podium to present diplomas to graduates, the NTV news channel reported.

As president, Gul is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

He attended the ceremony without his wife Hayrunnisa, whose Islamic-style headscarf is seen by many here as flouting the secular nature of the republic, enshrined in the constitution.

Gul, who was foreign minister for the past five years, was elected president in a parliamentary vote over the strong objections of army-backed hardline secularists because of his past in political Islam.

After his election victory, Gul pledged to remain impartial and true to the country's secular fabric.

Army brass, senior members of the judiciary and top academics snubbed the ceremony in strong sign that they are not happy with his presidency.

The military was a major player in the campaign that blocked Gul's first bid for the presidency in April, plunging the country into turmoil and triggering snap general elections on July 22.

When Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) first nominated Gul in April, the opposition boycotted the vote and the army warned that it could intervene to defend the secular system.

The AKP, the conservative offshoot of a now banned Islamist party, won the election comfortably and saw in the result popular approval for Gul's presidency.

The AKP has disawoved its Islamist past and says it is now fully committed to secularism.

Since first coming to power in 2002, it has secured the start of membership talks with the European Union and presided over strong economic growth.

But hardline secularists suspect the AKP of harbouring ambitions to undermine the separation of state and religion and fear that with Gul at the presidency and party members at all the top posts, the way has been paved.

In a conciliatory message to the army, Erdogan called for unity for the greater good of the country.

“I would like to once again emphasise that we need more than ever to set our differences aside and unite around the values of our nation, the tenets of the Republic and our common targets,” read Erdogan's statement, issued to mark August 30 Victory Day.

Erdogan later met Gul and secured approval for his new 25-member cabinet, including outgoing members and newcomers.

“Our aim in the new term will be to work for more freedoms and prosperity,” Erdogan told reporters after the meeting.

Ali Babacan, economy minister in the previous government and Turkey's chief negotiator in European Union membership talks, was named foreign minister to succeed Gul and retains the chief negotiator's post, Erdogan said.

Among the newcomers are Ertugrul Gunay, a prominent social-democrat who was appointed minister of culture and tourism, and Trade and Industry Minister Zafer Caglayan, former head of the Ankara Chamber of Industry.

The new government, which was to hold its first meeting on Wednesday, is expected to easily win a vote of confidence in the AKP-dominated parliament next week.—AFP