Islamist-rooted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday named Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Gul as the ruling party candidate for president, following harsh secularist objections to his own reported ambitions.
The choice of the moderate and widely respected foreign minister is seen as a bid to compromise with the army-backed secularist establishment, but may not stamp out all objections since Gul also has an Islamist background.
Hundreds of thousands of people rallied in Ankara this month to discourage Erdogan from running, worried that he would undermine the secular foundations of the state. The army had also issued a subtle warning to him.
Gul, 56, is virtually certain to become president thanks to the 353-seat majority the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) holds in the 550-member parliament, which will elect the president.
While he may not garner the required two-thirds majority of 367 votes in the first two rounds of voting set for tomorrow and next Wednesday, a simple majority of 276 suffices in third or fourth rounds on May 9 and May 15.
But the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has said it plans to boycott the elections as they were not consulted, and stressed that it would challenge the vote at the Constitutional Court.
The CHP argues that at least 367 legislators should be present in the assembly at the first round in order for voting to begin.
"We have said several times that we will go to the constitutional court" if there are fewer than 367 lawmakers present in the first round of voting, CHP deputy chairman Mustafa Ozyurek told reporters.
The AKP will now try to secure the backing of the center-right Motherland Party, the conservative True Path Party and independent lawmakers in order to assemble 367 lawmakers.
Gul's wife wears the Islamic headscarf, which is seen as the symbol of political Islam, and in an immediate sign that his candidacy would not be free of controversy, the foreign minister urged respect for those who wear it.
"The headscarf is a personal choice and everyone should respect it," he said.
Erdogan pledged the new president would be committed to secularism.
"Parliament will elect a president who will be fully impartial, just, committed to the contemporary ideals of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the values of the republic," he said as he announced Gul's candidacy.
A small group of people, carrying Turkish flags and pictures of Turkey's founder Ataturk, protested outside the presidential palace on Tuesday against Gul as president, the Anatolia news agency reported.
"Turkey is and will remain secular," the group chanted before police broke up the protest and detained 14 people.
There were similar, peaceful protests elsewhere in Ankara and Istanbul.
Erdogan never openly declared his presidential ambitions, but nor did he deny that he intended to run.
Many AKP members were concerned that without their charismatic leader, the party might lose support in general elections scheduled for November.
The AKP has disowned its Islamist roots, committed itself to secularism and secured the opening of Turkey's EU membership talks. Yet it remains under suspicion of harboring Islamist ambitions.
The government has made unsuccessful attempts to criminalize adultery and restrict places that serve alcohol to special zones.
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